


The World in a Grain of Sand

by ladyroxanne21



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: 2017hols, 25 days of draco and harry, M/M, Mpreg, Unplanned Pregnancy
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-01
Updated: 2017-12-25
Packaged: 2019-02-09 02:03:22
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 25
Words: 44,489
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12877839
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ladyroxanne21/pseuds/ladyroxanne21
Summary: Here are 25 days in the lives of Harry and Draco :-)





	1. December 1st 1998

**Author's Note:**

> To see a world in a grain of sand  
> And a heaven in a wild flower,  
> Hold infinity in the palm of your hand,  
> And eternity in an hour.  
> \- William Blake

December 1 st  1998 – Tuesday

 

Harry jostled a box in his arms as he rushed along. It was a large and unwieldy box that made it hard to see where he was going, but it was fairly light, only containing a painting he'd had made of the entire Weasley family. Harry had taken a photograph snapped at Bill's wedding of the entire family standing together, and then he'd had the painter add him into the portrait – as he would have been originally if he hadn't been Polyjuiced into someone else so that no one would recognize him since he was wanted by Voldemort at the time.

Anyway, the painting was intended as a gift for Molly for Christmas. It had taken the painter a while to finish, but Harry had commissioned it months ago, and now that it was ready, he was excited. He couldn't _wait_ to give it to her!

Without the ability to see his path as well as he'd like, Harry accidentally tripped over a rock and basically threw the painting into the air as he went tumbling to the ground. Right under the rusty old – er, charmingly antique – black sign that said: Welcome to Hogsmeade.

“Bugger!” He exclaimed in dismay. He was more than a little terrified that the painting was about to be destroyed before he even got it home from the painter! The moment he was able, he scrambled to sit up and look to see where the painting landed. To his surprise, someone had caught it.

“Potter, I trust this belongs to you.” One perfectly shaped platinum brow was raised in a smirk. Harry used to find this smug expression infuriating, but strangely, he now found it familiar, and thus, comforting.

“Malfoy!” Harry exclaimed, finding it unusual for Draco to have done anything helpful to Harry. Draco looked highly amused to see Harry sitting inelegantly and disheveled after a tumble on the muddy street – so, he couldn't have changed too much.

“Didn't anyone ever tell you that you are a wizard, Potter?” Draco drawled snootily.

“What's that supposed to mean, Malfoy?” Harry asked with a soft growl. He felt a prickle of anger run up his spine – which was surprisingly thrilling. He just couldn't figure out why.

“Just that you could either shrink the painting down for easier carrying, or simply levitate it in front of you,” Draco elaborated with a shrug. “There's no need to carry it yourself like that.”

“Ah... right...” Harry grumbled, embarrassed now. The truth was that he _did_ tend to forget he could do things like that, even though he had been a wizard for a little more than seven years now. He got to his feet and brushed himself off. Then he cast a spell to get rid of most of the mud. “Er, thanks...”

Draco shrugged, seemingly indifferent, although his expression was hard to interpret; sort of intense but reluctant to give anything away. “Least I could do, considering, er, well... You know...”

It was Harry's turn to raise a brow. He was both curious and not quite able to believe that Draco was being a bit awkward and rather surprisingly sincere.

Draco rolled his eyes as if he was sure Harry was a blithering idiot for not immediately understanding what he was referring to, sighing that he had to say it out loud. “Considering that you saved me from a fiery death before saving us all from a bloody madman.”

Harry felt like blushing. He was always more than a little awkward when people brought that up. “Yeah, well, saving people is sort of what I do,” he said, rubbing the back of his neck with one hand and grinding his right shoe into the ground.

“Which is probably why the Daily Prophet has practically wet its pants with excitement reporting that you're an Auror now. The youngest in a century, as I understand it,” Draco murmured with a hint of a playful sneer.

Harry shook his head wryly. “Oh shove off Malfoy! I am not, and I'm not the only one.” This referred to how Ron and Neville had become Aurors too. Although, Harry supposed that he _was_ younger than either of them.

Draco pressed his lips together for a moment, then sighed. “Look, I... I just wanted to say, er...” He took a deep breath to steady himself and gather up his meager courage. “Thank you. For saving my life, I mean. It probably would have been for the best if you'd just let me die in that fire, but you... didn't...”

Harry didn't quite know how to respond for a moment. “Er... You're welcome. And look, I hope you don't actually think that – that it would have been for the best. You were just doing what you had to – just like I was just doing what I had to. And it all worked out in the end, so...” He trailed off uncertainly, and even Draco looked at a loss for words. Then inspiration struck. “Oh! That reminds me!” He dug around in his tiny pouch around his neck and withdrew a wand. “Here.”

Draco's hand shook ever so slightly as he reached out and accepted his wand. “Wha...”

“It's yours and I meant to return it a lot sooner, I just... forgot...” Harry trailed off, still feeling rather awkward.

“But I thought it belonged to you now?” Draco blurted out.

“I guess it sort of does, but I think it should still work for you. And I fixed my wand, which I prefer using, so there's no reason for me to keep yours,” Harry rambled, feeling just a little flustered for some reason.

“Er... thanks... Potter. Are you ever going to take this bloody box back?” Draco demanded imperiously.

Feeling back on familiar footing at last, Harry laughed. “Of course, here.” He took his painting back and frowned at it slightly as he wondered whether he should shrink it or levitate it. Shrinking won out simply because then he could put it in his pouch and not have to worry about dropping it again.

“Oh, so you remember you're a wizard after all,” Draco drawled in that way of his that was oh so Malfoy.

Harry rolled his eyes. “Yeah, my memory may be terrible, but I occasionally figure out what I've forgotten.”

“Shall I buy you a Remembrall for Christmas then?” Draco asked with an amused sneer.

“Wouldn't help,” Harry stated with a snort. “It'd just go off all the time and I still wouldn't know what I'm forgetting. Which would be annoying – like the time that Ron got me a Sneakoscope and it continually went off because we were harboring Wormtail without knowing it.”

“Well, brains never were his strong suit either. That's why his nickname is weasel,” Draco informed Harry with a smug smirk.

“No one calls him that, Malfoy!” Harry growled warningly.

“That _you_ know of,” Draco stated with an aristocratic shrug that made Harry want to wring his neck.

“You can insult me all you like, but you'd better never insult my friends where I can hear you!” Harry cried out in warning, tempted to whip out his wand and cast a hex.

“Or what, Potter? I'll insult anyone at any time and there's nothing you can do about it,” Draco stated with snide superiority.

“God, you're still such a bloody bastard!” Harry roared, actually pulling on his hair with both hands before flinging them out at Draco.

“And you're still such an idiot Gryffindor,” Draco pointed out with another of those shrugs that made it seem like he was too good for everything.

“You say that like it's an insult,” Harry grumbled, mildly confused by why anyone would think that.

“It is,” Draco replied with an expression like he couldn't understand how Harry didn't realize this.

“Is not! I'm proud to be a Gryffindor,” Harry said, unconsciously puffing up his chest with pride.

“That's part of the curse of being a Gryffindor, you don't _know_ why it's such a terrible thing,” Draco drawled, his expression clearly announcing that he thought Harry was being an idiot again.

“Which is _still_ better than being a Slytherin! _They're_ cursed to think they're better than everyone else when they're just bastards and prats!”

“I think you mean highly cultured and well-bred,” Draco corrected with a smug smirk.

Harry roared in frustration and tore at his hair. “I don't know why I'm even arguing with you.”

“Because you're too stupid to realize that it's pointless and that you're never going to win,” Draco informed him helpfully.

“Whatever Malfoy. See you around, I suppose,” Harry stated with a dismissive wave as he walked away.

“Not likely,” Draco muttered, knowing that he didn't leave his Manor very often these days because people tried to hex him when he wasn't looking.

Harry only got three steps away before he stopped and turned back to look at Draco with a light frown. “Er... you think you could stop being an arse long enough to get drinks sometime?”

“Probably not,” Draco stated with an unrepentant shrug.

Harry couldn't help but laugh. “Well, at least you're honest about it. Listen, I'm serious. We should go to a pub.”

“And what? Get pissed and hex each other to death. No thanks, Potter, I'd rather not go to Azkaban now that I've been pardoned of all crimes.” Draco shifted uncomfortably and looked away. “Thanks for that as well.”

Harry gave him a tiny smile. “Well, if you change your mind, send me an owl. If nothing else, we can glare at each other across a table.”

“Oh wow, how did you know that was my _favorite_ thing to do?” Draco asked with an utterly deadpan expression.

Harry snorted a laugh. “Yeah yeah, mine too.” He walked away with a short wave over his shoulder. “I'll see you then!”

“See you,” Draco half whispered, watching Harry walk away for far longer than he should have.

 


	2. December 2nd 1999

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Harry and Draco go drinking in a muggle pub.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> OMGs you guys, I literally stared at the clock *all day* waiting to post this, lol ^_^

December 2 nd  1999 – Thursday

 

“Why did I agree to this?” Draco muttered as he downed the last bit of lager in his cup. “And worse! Why don't I at least make you buy me a bottle of good wine?”

Harry laughed even as he shook his head. “I dunno.”

Over the last year, the two of them had met up exactly four times to go drinking in a muggle pub where they wouldn't have to deal with people making a fuss over them sitting together in public. The first time it had happened, Harry had gotten minorly drunk one night and sent an owl to Draco demanding to know why the utter git hadn't written to accept Harry's invitation to go to a pub. Draco hadn't been best pleased by the arrogant and demanding tone of the letter and had written back a scathing reply – and an acceptance of the invitation so that he could berate Harry in person.

Three months later, Draco had finally owled Harry, inviting him to the pub again. Neither could quite explain why, but having the freedom to argue and insult each other as they liked cheered them both up. Harry'd had a bad day and Draco had turned it completely around with just one question: “Why do you look like something a troll dragged in, Potter?”

Now, it was almost exactly a year to the day since Harry's first invitation and they were both... well... still awkward actually. At least until they got a little drunk and the insults started flowing. It was weird, like they both wanted to _try_ being nice to each other while sober, but found it difficult. The alcohol relaxed them and helped them forget why they were trying to be friends. In those moments, it was almost like they _were_ friends. Which was rather hard to believe when Harry thought about it after the fact.

Harry beckoned to a pretty waitress with impressive cleavage. She came over to them with a hugely flirtatious grin. She subtly bent forward just a bit; invitingly, as if either about to impart or listen to a secret. “Is there something I can do for you boys?”

Harry was a tiny bit better at flirting than he had been when he and Ginny used to date – the second time. “Sure thing, lovely,” he answered with a wink. “You can get my friend here a bottle of your best wine.”

“Albariño – if you have it,” Draco added, giving her an appraising look. She had long, dark, wildly curly hair and a pleasingly curvaceous figure. She could be an interesting diversion for a night – if he was into one offs, which he wasn't. He was the possessive sort, not wasting time on anything he didn't want to own – aside from the occasional bit of play with Pansy and or Blaise, which happened when he was drunk or direly in need of a good shag. Or both. Speaking of, he should really go see them tonight after Harry dismissed him and he was so wound up that only a visit to subspace would get him out of his head.

“As for me,” Harry added with a smile. “I'll take a Brewdog Punk IPA.”

“Coming right up,” the waitress promised with a grin and the unspoken prospect of more if they stuck around until her shift was over. When she returned with their drinks, she fussed over them flirtily, opening and then handing Harry his bottle of IPA before opening the wine and pouring a glass for Draco – setting the bottle on the table within his reach. Then she walked away in a manner that drew their eyes and kept their attention for a few seconds.

Feeling awkward again, and not quite sure what to say, Draco insisted that Harry try the wine.

“That's actually not half bad,” Harry stated, suitably impressed. Then he insisted that Draco try some of his scottish craft ale.

“That's actually better than what we _were_ drinking,” Draco admitted a bit reluctantly. “Why _did_ you order that lager?”

Harry shrugged. “I dunno, just thought it might be something you'd like, plus I do like it and I didn't think you'd like this Punk IPA.”

“Well, surprisingly, I do,” Draco stated, mildly baffled that it was true. “It tastes like it was brewed by people who care about quality – and perhaps you can guess that I tend to like things of quality.”

Harry snorted in amusement. “That's because you're a poncy bastard, Malfoy.”

“Again, you keep confusing terms like bastard with terms like man of culture,” Draco informed him haughtily.

Harry chuckled at that. “I said poncy, didn't I?”

Rather than say anything, Draco simply rolled his eyes.

They each drank their preferred drinks for about an hour – randomly sucking on mini red and white peppermint candy canes from a bowl of them on the table as they did so. Harry ordered more Punk IPA when he ran out and Draco savored each glass of his wine like was proper. By that point, they were both well on their way to being utterly pissed. Their waitress hinted heavily that she'd be more than happy to bring them back to her place for the night before walking away again so that her boss didn't think she was shirking her duties.

This forward and rather illicit offer gave Harry an insane idea. One so barmy that he fully expected to be hexed for suggesting it. However, once the idea took root in his head, it refused to leave him alone and became all he could think about. He leaned across the small table to peer into Draco's eyes.

“Say Malfoy? How would you like to come back to mine tonight?”

Startled (not to mention fairly drunk), Draco blurted out what he thought without being able to filter it like he normally would. “I thought you'd never ask!”

Grinning, Harry grabbed Draco and stole a demanding kiss. Their waitress sighed in defeat from where she watched them by the bar. “Why are all the good looking ones gay?”

“Because they have eyes,” a gorgeous gay waiter replied with a cheeky grin. Making her roll her eyes and shake her head at him. But she couldn't argue the point.

Meanwhile, Harry tossed enough money on the table to more than cover their tab before dragging Draco out of the pub and into the nearest alley with a reasonable amount of privacy. Draco threw Harry up against the side of the building to demand another kiss. They groaned in longing and ground their hips together. After a few minutes of gloriously hot and heavy snogging, Harry wondered why they hadn't reached a bed yet, and then he remembered that he was a wizard and knew how to Apparate.

After the mild disorientation wore off, Draco noticed that they were conveniently standing right next to a bed. He promptly tore Harry's shirt off, and then moaned at how fit he was. Harry's chest was wide and muscular and perfect, marred only by an ovular burn-like scar roughly over his heart. He bit the scar, wishing he had a venom he could inject with his bite into Harry's heart that would make him think of nothing but Draco until the day he died.

Harry groaned in longing, deciding that Draco was wearing far too many clothes. He fumbled around until he found his wand, and then used it to cast intangibility spells followed by banishing spells so that Draco was completely naked in mere seconds. Faint silver scars were just barely visible under the light dusting of curly white hairs, and they made Harry want to lick them – tracing them with his tongue until they disappeared.

“M's'rry,” Harry murmured, saddened by the thought of what had nearly happened by his hand.

Draco ignored this because it was _far_ more important to open Harry's trousers. He kissed a path down Harry's chest and abdomen – following the happy trail of black hair – until he was on his knees before Harry. He yanked the denim trousers and blue cotton pants down to expose a thick shaft of average (but still quite pleasing) length. It was fully and rigidly erect, jutting out as if begging Draco to pay attention it, which Draco was only too happy to do. He started by nuzzling the shaft and pressing little kisses along its length. Then he pulled the foreskin back to get a good look at the bulbous head that had a glistening drop of fluid on the slit like a pearl. He licked it up, causing Harry's breath to catch.

“Oh God! I want you so badly!” Harry blurted out.

“Lucky I'm here then,” Draco murmured only a little sarcastically before licking a broad stripe along the underside of that eager shaft. He purposely exhaled a hot breath across the head before taking the entire shaft in his mouth as much as possible.

Harry sounded a bit strangled as he clutched Draco's head. It felt as if his eyes rolled into the back of his head as Draco rapidly made his knees shake and his balls tighten. The end was imminent and Harry was torn between welcoming what felt like it was going to be a glorious orgasm, and pushing Draco away so that he could calm down a bit and delay the inevitable by at least a minute or two.

Draco took the decision out of Harry's hands by spinning him around and forcing him to bend over and brace his hands on the edge of the bed. This was confusing to Harry's drunk mind, but very necessary to Draco's. His pale hands pried those firm cheeks apart so that he could soften that tight ring of muscle with his tongue. A shiver of pleasure wracked Harry's body, making him sound strangled again.

Harry wondered if he had just died and gone to muggle heaven, but that didn't seem likely considering how filthy and naughty (not to mention very very nice) that normally vicious tongue was being. Fairly quickly, long fingers joined in on the fun, wiggling around until they found –

“Oh God!” Harry gasped. He buried his head into the mattress and chanted: “OhGodohGodohGod!” His chant got faster and was rapidly turning into a squeal, but Draco sort of prevented that by reaching his free hand around and grasping Harry rather hard by the base of his shaft.

“Not yet,” Draco murmured, knowing that it would feel so much better for the both of them if Harry didn't orgasm until Draco was inside him. He decided not to waste any more time and simply cast a spell to finish preparing Harry. Then he shifted into position, conjuring up a handful of oil to lubricate his shaft. Groaning happily, he pressed into Harry, who moaned and pushed back to meet the very welcome guest.

It took Harry a moment to adjust and fully open up, but then Draco was buried deep. He remained still for a couple of seconds simply to savor the experience. He sincerely hoped that he was just sober enough to remember this exact feeling when he woke up tomorrow. Then he pulled back and slowly thrust forward. He wanted to take his time and thoroughly enjoy every second, thus, he favored slow but powerful thrusts that practically slammed Harry into the bed.

Harry grunted and moaned with every thrust. As time passed and Draco got faster and more demanding, Harry's hands slid across the bed and his body ended up pressed into the mattress. His poor shaft was trapped at an awkward angle, but he was oh so close to the edge of climax nonetheless.

“God, yes! Yes!” Harry cried out, grinding his hips up and down with every forceful ramming into the bed. If he was just a bit less drunk, he might have wondered why he had agreed to be the bottom. His only other sexual experiences had been with Ginny and a muggle named Ethan who he'd topped every time. It had been a hard limit, and when he'd first invited Draco home with him, he'd planned to top him too, only Draco had taken over and...

And Harry honestly didn't care. It felt so good that he wanted it to never end. He dug his fingers into the bed and his toes into the floor to brace himself as his orgasm hit with the force of a train wreck. An embarrassing squeal escaped him, prompting him to bury his face in the mattress to muffle it. Divine warmth pooled between him and the coarse blue bedding.

The feel of Harry rippling on his shaft was all it took to push Draco over the edge and rip an orgasm from him as well. He softly roared with something akin to profound relief as he pumped Harry full. It felt like he was pouring every drop of liquid inside him into Harry. When he felt utterly empty, he slumped onto Harry's back and panted heavily.

Reality slowly returned, making Draco depressed. This was that point in the night when a one off ended. This meant that Harry was more than likely going to thank him for a good time and politely ask him to leave. Or not so politely insist. Actually, despite being a brave and foolish Gryffindor, he was still British, and so, more likely to make awkward small talk that was a veiled hint that Draco was overstaying his welcome.

“Oi, Malfoy, can you please get off me?” Harry asked, sounding mildly upset – and a lot more direct than Draco'd thought he'd be.

Frowning, Draco did as asked, suppressing a sigh of disappointment. He knew better than to hope for more, but he really wasn't the sort to be happy with one offs. Standing up, he looked around for his clothes.

With a sigh of relief, Harry crawled properly onto the bed, Scourgified the wet spot, and got comfortable. “Thanks! The way you were lying on me was getting uncomfortable. Now come here. I want to recover for a few minutes and then go again. Do you think you'll be able to go again?”

Draco stood up a bit straighter, tilting his head in confusion. He must be drunker than he thought! It sounded like Harry wanted him to stay. “Er... yeah,” he agreed, not willing to pass the opportunity up.

Harry reached out and grabbed Draco, pulling him into bed. “Good!” With a smile of relief that Draco wasn't in a rush to get away, he decided that kissing was an excellent idea.

By the time they were ready to go again, Draco was more than half certain that he actually had died and gone to heaven at some point. They both had incredible stamina fueled by recent orgasms. So much that by the time they climaxed the second time, they were both so exhausted that they promptly collapsed into a pile of boneless meat and passed out.

In the morning, Draco woke to a hot mouth on his shaft and didn't have enough brain power to think anything other than: _oh fuck yes!_ It took him it few moments to realize that Harry had cast the quick prep spells on him, but when Harry shifted to lay on top of Draco, he felt torn between letting Harry do anything he wanted and mild panic.

“Potter, wait,” he insisted, actually pushing Harry slightly away.

“Problem?” Harry asked with a frown. Now that he was fully sober (and rather hung over), he wanted to make a few more memories. He was also afraid that Draco was regretting what had happened now that _he_ was sober.

“Listen, I know this is going to sound unbelievable considering how we spent our night, but...” Draco took a deep breath. “I don't do casual sex. On the rare occasion that I consent to a one off, I don't let that person top me. So, er, perhaps we should stop now.”

“Wait, are you saying that my options are date you or let you shag me?” Harry asked for clarification.

“Actually, I meant what I said. I don't do casual, so it's more like date me or let me go home.” Draco strangely couldn't look at Harry, and so, was staring at a wall across the room.

Harry made a sound like: huh. “I didn't think you'd want to date me of all people. I'm not usually into casual sex either, but I have no idea how dating would work between us.”

Draco snorted a laugh and shifted to look at Harry. “We're bound to hex each other to death sooner rather than later.”

“We'd probably not even make it a month before our relationship went up in flames,” Harry added, tilting his head to the side and nodding in agreement with himself.

“But at least we know it'll be fiery and passionate,” Draco reasoned. He was actually quite looking forward to it.

“True,” Harry admitted with another nod. “So, if we know we're going to end in flames or death, we should probably shag as much as humanly – no! _Magically_ – possible before then to make it worth the agony.”

“I agree,” Draco murmured before kissing Harry. “Starting now.”

“Thank fuck!” Harry sincerely praised. “I'm so hard I could probably hammer a hole in the bed!”

“Lucky you have me all ready and waiting then,” Draco reminded him with a cheeky grin.

With a moan of agreement, Harry wasted no more time burying himself deep inside his lover – no! Boyfriend! Without warning, a silvery stag burst into existence and ran around on top of them, making Harry blush a deep shade of red. Draco raised a bemused brow.

“Sorry! A Patronus needs a happy thought to cast, and, er, I suppose that I'm really happy at the moment,” Harry explained, more than a little embarrassed by the uncontrollable display of his emotions.

Since there was no way to fake that – and thus Harry couldn't possibly be lying – Draco grinned. “Good. Maybe you'll teach me how to do it sometime, but for now...” he trailed off and kissed Harry.

Purring, Harry divided his attention in half so that he could shag and kiss Draco at the same time. Forever, if possible. Or at least until they hexed each other to death. Whichever came first.

 


	3. December 3rd 2000

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Draco insists that Harry take him out on a date and dress up nicely to boot :-)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I had a mini party and a bunch of chores to run today to make the time pass a bit quicker, but it still feels like it took *forever* lol! Plus, I finally received the thread I ordered so I could start crocheting the table cloth I'm making my grandma for Christmas :-D

December 3 rd  2000 – Sunday

 

“How about dinner?” Harry suggested, hoping to cheer up and entice his uncharacteristically quiet boyfriend.

“We did that last night for our anniversary,” Draco reminded him with a frown. They'd gone to a nice, high end muggle restaurant called Greenhouse in Mayfair.

“You didn't like it?” Harry asked in disappointment.

“No, I did,” Draco assured him, then sighed softly in frustration. “It's just that all our dates have been to muggle pubs, the cinema, restaurants, and the like.”

“Well, what else is there?” Harry asked, tilting his head in confusion.

Draco pressed his lips together and looked away before mumbling: “There's a pair of top box Harpy/Falcons tickets that you chucked in a drawer nearly the same second you received them. One might think you didn't like Quidditch, Potter,” Draco tutted, shaking his head over-dramatically.

Harry rolled his eyes. “I love Quidditch, you know that. I just didn't think you'd want to be seen in public with me.”

“More like _you_ don't want to be seen in public with _me_ ,” Draco growled softly, giving Harry a rather impressive glare.

Harry felt something in him melt. He pulled Draco into his arms and gave him a tender kiss. “We've been dating a year now; what makes you think I don't want to be seen with you?”

“We never do _anything_ in wizarding public,” Draco reminded him, still glaring more than not. “Not even something simple like lunch at the Leaky. I can only assume that you can't stand the thought that people will see you standing next to me. They might actually think we're friends or something!”

“Aww cuddlecat!” Harry purred as he stroked a hand down Draco's long and lithe spine, making the Slytherin melt a tiny bit in a reflexive manner he just couldn't help. “I don't care who sees us or what they think. I'd shag you on the stadium pitch in front of everyone if you thought it was the best way to announce our relationship to the public!”

Draco blushed lightly, smirking at the thought. “Well, there's no need to go quite that far, but surely just going to a Quidditch game together is not too much to ask. Sure, we might make the paper simply for standing next to each other and not casting a hex, but I'm sure no one will think we're anything more than friends – and probably not even that.” He snorted in amusement. “More like school rivals who happened to have to share the top box for one tense night – or however long the game lasts.”

Harry laughed as he easily pictured exactly that in his head. “If you really want to go, I wouldn't mind. Ginny's been ready to murder me for months for never attending her games.”

Draco was glaring again. “Naturally you'll be rooting for the Falmouth Falcons.”

“Oh hell no!” Harry blurted out with a fervent shake of his head. “Not only would Ginny murder me, but I actually love the Holyhead Harpies. They and Puddlemere United are my favorites.”

Draco got an appraising look on his face and nodded. “Yeah, I'd shag Oliver Wood if given a chance.”

“So would I – Wait! What?! No!” Harry protested, now glaring at Draco. “You made such a fuss about not having casual sex, which means that we are _both_ committed to this relationship and not playing around!”

Draco laughed softly and shook his head. “Calm down, mutt. I truly meant that and I _haven't_ played around. I just meant that Wood is oh so shaggable, and obviously you agree. On that very rare occasion that I wanted to have a one off, if he had been willing, I'd have taken the opportunity.”

Harry tilted his head side to side and sort of half nodded, half shrugged. “Yeah, alright, I can't actually argue with that.”

“So... Quidditch?” Draco prompted hopefully.

Harry grinned. “Yeah. Let me just change into my favorite denims and –”

“No,” Draco stated so firmly that Harry fell silent with a raised brow. “There's _no way_ in Merlin's vast bulge that I'm going to be seen standing next to you _in public_ wearing those ratty travesties you call trousers.”

“Then what am I supposed to wear?” Harry asked, honestly baffled. _All_ his trousers were denim and rather ratty – according to Draco.

“Lucky for you, I happen to be prepared,” Draco drawled snootily, making Harry want to kiss him senseless. “I brought your measurements to my tailor at some point and had a few things made. I could never insist you wear them in muggle public because no one there knows me and it just wasn't worth the fight to the death it would take to get you in them, but tonight, I'm putting my foot down. You'll wear something I approve of or I'll cast a Confundus Charm on you, dress you like a doll, and bring you to the match before the charm wears off.”

Harry rolled his eyes, more amused than he wanted to admit. “I'm an _Auror_ , Draco. I think I could probably defend myself from your charms.”

Draco smirked rather flirtily. “Are you certain about that?”

Harry smirked in return, one hand caressing Draco's cushy arse. “ _Those_ charms happen to be among my favorite things.”

“Naturally,” Draco drawled smugly and nearly kissed Harry before pulling back and shaking his head. “Stop trying to distract me, Harry. We've only got a few minutes before the game starts and I _will_ get you into some decent clothes – for once!”

Harry chuckled suggestively. “Which means that you'll have to get me _out_ of these clothes first...”

Draco couldn't help but grin at that. “True...” He cast the intangibility spell and banished everything Harry was wearing to the floor. “I suppose that we have a little time, if we're quick.”

“Now we're talking!” Harry cheered, returning the charms before pulling Draco into his arms and giving him a kiss. They took hold of each other's shafts, tugging on them firmly as they fought a hot and wet battle of the tongues that never ended.

Exactly five minutes later, both were panting heavily and leaning against each other for support as they recovered from a lovely frotting orgasm. The very second his legs stopped feeling wobbly, Draco summoned the clothes he'd bought for Harry and cast dressing spells to put them on him as quickly as possible.

Harry looked at the bespoke black trousers in the mirror, turning around to get a look at his arse. The trousers were surprisingly nice, lined with buttery soft brushed cotton and hugging his arse just right. All in all, he couldn't complain. He _was_ going to complain about the poncy button down shirt and cashmere waistcoat, but they also felt really nice to the touch and made him look rather dashing. Which meant there wasn't really anything to complain about.

“Alright, I'll wear this on the condition that you strip it all back off me the moment we return from the game,” Harry bargained with a knowing smirk.

“Deal!” Draco accepted with a grin. After all, it was win-win for him. He got dressed every bit as quickly, and then held his hand out so that Harry could Apparate them to the top box.

The stadium was festively decorated with impossibly long strands of multi colored muggle style Christmas lights and the game was just getting started when they arrived. True to Draco's prediction, they caused a stir just by sitting next to each other, but since there was an actual game to pay attention to, most people forgot all about them after the first five or so minutes. Those that didn't were all reporters from one publication or another.

The game progressed rather slowly at first. Neither team could manage to score a goal and both teams seemed thirsty for the other's blood. The Falmouth Falcons' beaters appeared determined to murder all the Harpy chasers. After all, their motto was _let us win, but if we cannot win, let us break a few heads._

By an hour in, the game was fairly heated. Both teams were determined to win or die trying. Harry cheered Ginny on so loudly that his throat soon felt raw and sorely abused. At the same time, Draco cheered on the Falcons with equal enthusiasm.

“GO GINNY, SCORE!”

“KNOCK THAT BLOODY CHASER OFF HER BROOM!”

“WHAT'VE YOU GOT AGAINST GINNY?!”

“WHAT? THAT GINGER WEASELETTE YOU USED TO DATE? NOTHING, I JUST WANT HER TO FALL TO HER NEAR DEATH SO THAT MY TEAM WINS THE GAME!”

“WATCH IT, MALFOY, OR I WON'T GO TO YOUR HOUSE OR LET YOU OVER TO MINE FOR A WEEK!”

“THAT'S GROUNDS FOR A DIVORCE, POTTER! _HA_! SCORE! MY TEAM'S WINNING!”

“MY TEAM'S ABOUT TO CATCH THE SNITCH, CATCH IT, DAMNIT!”

“HA POTTER! YOUR TEAM WOULDN'T KNOW HOW TO CATCH THE SNITCH IF IT FLEW DOWN THEIR THROATS!”

“WOULD SO, AND IT'S NOT LIKE YOUR TEAM IS DOING ANY BETTER! THEY'RE SO FAR AWAY FROM THE SNITCH THAT THEY'D HAVE BETTER LUCK DIGGING GOLD OUT OF THEIR ARSES!”

“AT LEAST MY TEAM CAN FIND THEIR ARSES, AS EVIDENCED BY THE FACT THAT THEY ARE NOW NEARLY A HUNDRED POINTS UP!”

“BIG DEAL, MY TEAM WAS UP 120 ONLY FIVE MINUTES AGO, AND THEY WILL BE AGAIN BECAUSE THEY'RE BETTER IN EVERY – _THEY CAUGHT THE SNITCH!!!”_ Harry was so elated by this that he not only jumped up and pumped his fists in the air, but he then threw his arms around Draco and gave him a celebratory kiss.

Draco fought him out of sheer aggravation over losing for a moment, but then surrendered to the powerful need to get lost in Harry. They both moaned and completely forgot everything else as their snogging got deeper and more demanding. Suddenly needing a bed and feeling much too far from the nearest one, Harry Apparated them straight to his bedroom and pushed Draco on the bed so that he could climb atop him.

Harry's accidental magic got fully on board with this plan by shredding Draco's trousers and black silk pants into confetti, which then flew around the room erratically. Draco growled, vexed by the utter destruction of an expensive pair of trousers.

“ _Merlin's crooked prick, again?!_ ” He snarled, ready to start a war over Harry's careless disregard for Draco's bespoke clothing, but then Harry tried his best to swallow Draco's shaft whole and suddenly Draco couldn't even remember his own name. “Uh!”

Harry sucked on Draco so vigorously that one might think he had a gun to his head or was trying to win millions of galleons. The truth was that Harry simply loved everything about that thin and long shaft that was perfect for blowing; perfect for stroking; perfect for anal sex; perfect for absolutely everything. Harry wanted it inside him almost as much as he wanted to drink Draco dry.

Draco clutched Harry's hair in his hands and arched his back. “Oh fuck Harry! I'm –” He didn't even have time to finish his sentence, which turned into a groan of profound relief. Harry swallowed until the flow stopped, and then swirled his tongue around the mushroom shaped head and probed the little slit in a quest to find more.

Feeling like it was too much, Draco yanked Harry up and into his arms for a lethargic kiss. After a moment, a thought occurred to him, making him laugh.

“What?” Harry asked curiously.

“Well now, if that's what I get _every_ time my team loses, then I might just start rooting for the Chudley Cannons!” Draco exclaimed with a smirk.

Harry laughed heartily. “Just don't tell Ron! I think he'd be horrified to know what we're doing after every game.”

Snickering, Draco wrapped his legs around Harry and invited him to see to his own pleasure. Harry wasted no time complying – feeling like it had been days since his last orgasm even though it had only been mere hours. When they were done, they curled up and fell asleep.

Ever since they started dating, they only saw each other two or three times a week since Harry often worked late and was too tired for company when he got home. This meant that they reserved the weekends for dates and copious shagging. It also meant that by Wednesday, they missed each other so much (not that they were ready to admit that to each other just yet) that one of them inevitably showed up at the other's house for a booty call. Aside from that, they didn't live together and had mostly separate lives. Harry visited the Burrow every Sunday for lunch, as well as having dinner with Ron and Hermione several times a week. Meanwhile, Draco had more or less the same routine with his parents and friends. Both had told others that they were dating, but since they tended to keep their time together to themselves, no one was quite sure whether to believe them or not.

Thus, the next morning, it really shouldn't have come as a surprise when the thing that woke them up was a howler or ten thousand.

“HOW DARE YOU KISS HARRY POTTER, YOU DEATH EATER SCUM!”

“HARRY'S FAR TOO GOOD FOR YOU!”

“WHY DON'T YOU DO US ALL A FAVOR AND AVADA KEDAVRA YOURSELF BEFORE YOU TARNISH DARLING HARRY'S REPUTATION!”

Draco tried his best to ignore the flurry of verbal abuse, but he couldn't help but unconsciously curl into a ball with his arms around his knees. Harry had been looking around, not entirely certain what was going on at first, but the moment he saw Draco looking so vulnerable, something flared in him. All the howlers burst into flames that made them scream as if in excruciating pain before turning into ash and falling, covering everything in Harry's room.

Harry pulled Draco into his arms and gave him a kiss so passionate that he hoped Draco would realize that those hateful words meant nothing. As intended, Draco did feel better, but strangely, it was Harry's burning reaction to the nasty letters – rather than the kiss – that did the trick. Of course, the kiss didn't hurt. However, the ash did, making them both cough and choke with every breath. They had to flee the room and take a shower, which provided Harry with another opportunity to thoroughly reassure Draco that it didn't matter what anyone else thought about them.

After the shower – and steamy shower sex – they sat at Harry's kitchen table to look through all the courtesy copies of basically every publication that had a reporter at the Quidditch match. Their entire night was transcribed practically word for word, and their kiss was shown from every possible angle.

“Well...” Draco murmured, trying to think of something to say.

“I guess this means the world knows we're dating now,” Harry remarked tentatively, not entirely sure how Draco was taking this news. Before the game, Draco had _seemed_ like he wanted everyone to know, but now that he had to deal with the reality of it, he was extremely pale and quiet, and Harry was worried.

“Quite,” Draco stated in agreement. Then he huffed a tiny laugh. “On the plus side, Blaise and Pansy have to believe me now. I'm going to have to go collect on a bet.”

Harry sighed in relief, and then groaned in frustration. “And I have to get to work. Are you going to be alright?”

“I'll be fine,” Draco assured him, and then gave Harry a tender kiss. “Go. Work. Don't worry about me. I daresay you'll be the one hounded today while I'll be safe in the Manor.”

“Alright, owl me if you need anything,” Harry insisted rather fervently. “Or if anyone harasses you. Or if your dad is a bigger arse than usual. I'll come running to defend you.”

Draco chuckled a bit wryly. “I might just take you up on that. I think it could be gratifying to have the Savior of the Wizarding World at my beck and call as a personal bodyguard, servant, and gorgeous arm candy all in one.”

Harry harrumphed, but then kissed Draco before rushing off to work before he was late. To his dismay, Draco was right. Everyone clamored to ask him if it was true and he (not to mention the entire department) was run ragged answering false reports of crimes simply so people could ask if the articles were true. Sighing, Harry rubbed his head to ward off a raging headache.

 


	4. December 4th 2001

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Harry has something he wants to ask Draco, only he's so nervous he might just shake apart.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The good thing about Sunday is laundry to keep me occupied, I guess, lol. Plus, I'm making good progress on the tablecloth I'm crocheting for my grandma :-)

December 4 th  2001 – Tuesday

 

Harry ran a hand through his hair, and then shoved his shaking hands in his pockets as he lurked in the corner of the shop, inspecting the lovely bunches of hollies and berries that decorated the seam where the wall met the ceiling. Part of him was so excited that he was in danger of spontaneously combusting. The rest of him was terrified. Really terrified. _Far_ more than the day he realized he had to let Voldemort kill him, and then walked into the Forbidden Forest to let him.

During the course of the last year, things had changed a bit between him and Draco. After their relationship became public knowledge, they spent six months just trying to figure out how to be in a relationship when everyone and their great aunt Gertrude wanted to know every last detail of their business. Suddenly, Harry had felt utterly exhausted by it; weary to the bone. He felt something had to give but he wasn't quite sure what.

So... he asked Draco to move in with him. He figured that if nothing else, they could be there for each other at the end of each day. Much like their entire relationship, it had worked out surprisingly well. Well enough that...

Harry was currently in The Enchanted Jewelers looking for a ring to give Draco. Not just _give_ him, but give him and _propose_... It was thrilling and terrifying at the same time.

What if Draco said no? What then? Would they still live together? Would they remain in a relationship that obviously wasn't going in the direction Harry wanted it to? Oh Godric buggering Gryffindor! Would they break up?!

But what if he said yes? That was quite possibly even scarier because then what? They'd get married, Harry supposed, but when? Would the ceremony be small or huge? Would the public try to stop them? Would living together as a married couple be any different than simply living together? Would the difference be a good thing or a bad thing? What if Draco said yes and married him but didn't actually love him? What if Draco was actually only with him because of who he was and what he'd done? How could Harry _ever_ be certain of anyone, really? Only Ron, Hermione, and Ginny had truly been by his side during all those years when everyone else – including Draco – had been against him for one reason or another, so what if this was all just part of some sinister and dastardly long term plot to get back at Harry for winning the war?

 _Merlin_!!! Did that even make sense in the slightest?!

Harry exhaled a long suffering sigh of defeat. This was insane. He should turn around and forget all about ever proposing. He and Draco were doing fine as they were. There was no need to complicate things.

“This one,” the owner of the shop stated in absolute certainty as she held out a ring for Harry to look at – completely startling him in the process as he hadn't noticed her approach him.

“Er... what?” Harry asked in confusion even as he pressed a hand to his heart in an attempt to slow its thunderous racing.

“You are looking for the perfect ring for Draco Malfoy as a Christmas gift, no?”

“Actually...” Harry began with a blush. He rubbed the back of his neck and couldn't help but smile glowingly as he muttered: “I w-w-want t-t-to ask,” he coughed and pounded on his chest over his heart with a fist. “Ask him t-t-to –”

She took pity on him and finished his sentence for him. “Marry you?”

Harry nodded fervently. Feeling strangely embarrassed. And awkward. And terrified again. Or rather, still.

Smiling brilliantly at him in return, she set the ring in his hand. “As I said, this one. It's a ring he has come in and admired from time to time. It's well known that he could probably buy everything in this shop, but he hasn't bought this ring because it's the sort of ring that is supposed to be bought by a loved one. Thus, this is the ring you should buy him.”

Harry examined the ring in his hand. It was a thick band of solid gold inlaid with a row of five square diamonds. The entire thing was pleasing to the eye – even Harry's, who had rather common taste in general. _He'd_ be happy with a plain gold band, but this really was something that Draco would like.

Smiling, Harry looked up at the woman. “Can you put the Slytherin emblem on it?”

“That little snake? Sure, I could engrave it on the band in a matter of moments,” she assured him with a soft smile.

Harry went far away and dreamy as he thought about this. He and Draco called each other Slytherin and Gryffindor as if hurling an insult on a daily basis. By engraving the ring with the Slytherin snake emblem, Harry would be letting Draco know that it was actually one of the many things he loved about him.

“Yeah. I'd like that,” Harry murmured with a soft smile in return.

“Alright then, let me just take this back a moment, and... all done! What do you think, Mr. Potter?”

“It's perfect,” Harry pronounced with a grin, feeling a thousand percent better than he had just five minutes ago. “Thanks!”

 

***

 

Harry had a major dilemma! Now that he'd bought the ring, he had to decide if he should just blurt out the proposal now, or hold back long enough to plan out something special. A cake? He could slip it in a piece of cake and – no, Draco would probably berate Harry for trying to choke him, which could completely ruin the mood.

Ooo! He could put it in a glass of champagne! Draco loved the stuff, and it shouldn't be too hard to pick up a pricey bottle of quality stuff. Hell! If Harry told the shop owner that the bottle was intended for Draco and that the man would have to suffer the gorgeous blond's wrath if it was inferior, he'd probably have the absolute best bottle available in mere seconds!

But wait, that could be a potential choking hazard too... Still, couldn't hurt to have a bottle on hand to celebrate with. And come to think of it, cake wouldn't go amiss either. OOO! A flower! Harry could put the ring in a rose bud and hand it to Draco with a kiss.

Now the only question was if Harry could have all this ready by dinner time.

 

***

 

 _Stupid idiot!_ In all of Harry's preparation, he hadn't given any thought at all to _how in the buggering hell_ was he actually going to _ask_ the bloody question! It sounded easy until Harry tried asking his mirror and realized that he had suddenly forgotten how to speak English. Maybe he could ask it in Parseltongue?

No... Draco would never understand him. Plus, that would turn Draco on and they'd end up shagging before – wait! That could work! They could shag – it didn't really matter how – and Harry could just slip the ring on Draco's finger when he wasn't paying attention. And then hold his breath and die while waiting for him to notice and say yes because he _had_ to be able to read Harry's mind by now.

That would actually solve everything! Harry could just stare at him intently and wait for him to pick up on the thoughts in Harry's head. Then he'd say yes, Harry might remember how to speak again, and they'd live happily ever after. Bonus! Even if Harry never did remember how to speak, Draco could just read his mind. Could be inconvenient when trying to communicate at work, but what the hell, it'd be worth it.

Feeling slightly more confident, Harry finished cooking up a feast with lobster, shrimp, veal, garlic mashed potatoes, sauteed green beans, clam and bacon chowder, cherry cheesecake, caramel apple spice cake, a strawberry chiffon pie, champagne, Albariño wine, and a fruity moscato that Harry rather liked. Hmm... Maybe Draco would like a salad on the side and a loaf of fresh baked bread? Cheesy garlic bread. And maybe fried calamari for starters? No, that was something Harry liked but Draco preferred it to be hibachi grilled.

Was there time to go buy a hibachi?

Nope! Draco was home! Where in the seven levels of hell had he been anyway?

Draco was quiet and withdrawn. He barely even responded when Harry kissed him hello. This made Harry frown in concern. However, nearly everyone felt better after eating, so that's what they'd do.

“Come, I made dinner,” Harry informed him with another kiss. Draco responded to this one a little better, but it was still wan.

Suddenly, Harry was plagued with doubts. Was Draco getting tired of this relationship? Had he met someone else? Who in the buggering hell had Draco met?! When did they meet? How long had they been having an affair?! Would Harry be able to get away with murder because he was the Savior? He narrowed his eyes at Draco as he tried to read the gorgeous bastard's mind.

Currently, Draco was shifting the food around his plate without really eating any of it. He was also steadily drinking the Albariño wine at a rate that would finish off the bottle in about ten minutes – which was rare. He liked to drink slowly and savor the experience.

Harry was now certain that he was going to murder the man or woman Draco was having an affair with extremely violently, then murder Draco with an Avada Kedavra so that he didn't have to suffer, and finally, murder himself because he was dead certain that he couldn't live without Draco at this point.

Eventually, a sort of far away and dreamy look crossed Draco's face and Harry just couldn't take it any more! “Alright, out with it! What's going on?”

Draco sighed and shook his head as if shaking off his thoughts. “I'm sorry. Were you trying to talk to me? My head was somewhere else.”

“Obviously,” Harry stated in that dry tone that was Draco's third most used tone of voice.

“Er... What was it you asked?” Draco wondered, shaking his head again and trying to pay attention.

“What's going on?” Harry demanded crossly, once more squinting at Draco in an attempt to read his mind.

Draco picked up and daintily nibbled on a shrimp.

“ _Draco_ ,” Harry snarled impatiently.

Draco sighed again, this one rather lengthy. “Well, I don't quite know how to say this. I...”

“Merlin and Godric, Draco! Just tell me before I die of –”

“I was offered a rare and prestigious opportunity to study with a potions master!” Draco blurted out excitedly. “No! Not _just_ a master, _the_ master! The one and only – he hasn't taken on a student in years, Harry, _years_ ! And he wants to pass his knowledge on to me! I never thought – I never dared dream – I never – Harry! I never even had a glimmer of hope that my application would garner more than a passing glance as he sorted through his pile! He must have had _thousands_ of students want to study with him and he chose me! And a few others, but still!”

“Er...” This was not what Harry had expected at all. He exhaled in relief and gave Draco a genuine smile. “That's wonderful!”

“It really is!” Draco exclaimed with a giddy grin before his face fell and he looked about two seconds away from bursting into tears. “Too bad I can't go...”

“Go? Go where? And wait! _Why_ can't you go?” Harry asked, extremely confused now.

“Don't be stupid, Harry, of course I can't go. There's no way I could ask you to uproot your life to go with me and there's no way that you'd quit your job to do so – even if Master Durhan let his students bring their partners, which he doesn't. It's a year long intensive program; just him and me – and the other students he choose – trekking across Africa, Australia, and all the remote regions of the world where rare plants grow. We'll do nothing but eat, sleep, find plants and other magical ingredients, and brew the most advanced potions known to wizard kind. It's like a dream come true!”

“That... sounds wonderful,” Harry said, honestly trying to be supportive even though his heart was breaking into a billion microscopic pieces. “And of course you can go. Why couldn't you go? You don't belong to me; I don't _own_ you!”

Draco looked closer to tears than ever. “No you don't own me, but we're in a relationship that will have to end if I leave. I'd be so far away that we wouldn't be able to see each other at all. I don't think I'd be able to firecall, and even if we owl each other, it might take weeks just for the owl to find me or find his way back to you from me. That wouldn't be fair to either of us.”

Harry took a deep breath, his hand slipping into his pocket to clench the ring that now felt like it was burning him with all the possibilities of what might have been. “Still... This is a big deal and it's important to you. You should do it because it'll make you happy if you do and you'll probably regret it for the rest of your life if you don't.”

Tears actually did stream down Draco's cheeks at that. Without a word, he walked over to Harry and wrapped him in a tight hug. “I honestly don't deserve you. I hope you find some happiness of your own when I'm gone.”

“And when do you have to leave?” Harry whispered, both needing to hear and dreading the answer.

Draco took a deep breath. “That's the thing. Master Durhan is known for his extreme eccentricity. He wrote in my acceptance letter that if I was serious and it was fate, I'd drop everything and join him... tomorrow. I'd have to Portkey out first thing in the morning.”

Harry felt like his heart had just been ripped from his chest. It was hard to breath and even harder to speak. So, he took Draco by the hand and led him to their bedroom. If they only had one night left, they were going to make the most of it.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm so sorry for the mini cliff hanger, but at least y'all don't have to wait nearly as long as Harry does for what comes next, lol, :-)


	5. December 5th 2002

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It been a year since Draco left and Harry nearly gets himself fired for being cranky.

December 5 th  2002 – Thursday

 

Harry emerged from his fireplace and promptly threw one of his hastily removed boots across the room with a roar of frustration. Once again, Harry'd nearly been sacked. At least once a month, he'd miss Draco so hard that he'd snarl at everyone unfortunate enough to cross his path. It didn't matter who, and the Head Auror took umbrage with Harry's attitude. He and Harry got into a shouting match until Robards sent Harry home for the weekend with a severe warning that if Harry dared show his face before his attitude improved drastically, he'd be booted out of Ministry and only an act of the Gods – or possibly the Minister for Magic – would make Robards consider forgiving him.

Previously, this meant that Harry would storm around in a snit for a few hours until one of his friends got fed up with him enough to take him out drinking at a muggle pub. He'd get utterly sloshed in no time, see someone who – in his mind at the time – looked like Draco, and...

Have a one off.

While it was happening, it was fairly glorious. He was half certain it _was_ Draco, and so he'd do all the best things he did with Draco; the things that made his lover fall apart with pleasure and squeal like a stuck pig. It didn't matter if the person was a man or a woman, he'd leave them convinced that he was a God in bed.

In the mornings, he'd wake up _hating_ himself. His temporary lover would almost always beg him to stay, but he never did. He'd go home and mentally flagellate himself until Hermione showed up with a cup of extra strong tea to remind him that he was only human and needed sex as much as anyone else. She'd remind him that Draco had officially broken up with him to avoid exactly this – Harry feeling like he was betraying the love of his life.

Usually, those reminders eventually worked, but if they didn't, she'd get cruel by also reminding him that Draco could very well be shagging his fellow potions students. She'd go into excruciating possible details if she had to, making Harry cry from anguish until he remembered that she was right; he was a single man allowed to have one offs when he needed sexual release.

When he felt better, he'd take a long bath, get a good night's sleep, and then profusely apologize to his boss upon arrival at work on Monday morning. This time was different though. This time...

Draco might come home! He had owled Harry to let him know that his intensive training had officially ended and that he was headed back toward England. That said, he couldn't be sure when he'd actually arrive. It could be anytime from two days ago to three days from now. So much was uncertain when one was beginning a journey from the remotest part of Australia.

So, Harry was trying his best to wait patiently – which was never really his strong suit. He was quickly wearing a track through the carpet in his drawing room! Kreacher watched him warily, muttering to himself about crazy masters.

Suddenly, an owl arrived. Harry snatched the note from her ungraciously, nearly earning himself a broken finger as the majestic eagle owl bit him. She took off in a snit without even waiting for a reply or a treat or payment of any kind. Harry didn't notice and had already forgotten about her.

_Harry, I'm back. Sembene and I arrived in England via Portkey about two hours ago. I brought him to the Manor to meet my parents and drop off all my belongings. To my surprise, either Pansy or my mother had found an actually gifted oracle to let them know exactly when I'd arrive, and so they had a welcome home party waiting for me. I'll try to visit you in another couple of hours. Otherwise it'll have to wait until tomorrow. Until then, Draco_

Harry's knees suddenly forgot how to work and buckled, making him tumble into a heap on the floor. He let out a sob, and probably would have cried all night if he could breathe enough to do so. It really felt like someone had just cast a Sectumsempra on him, making it impossible for him to breathe or for his heart to beat, and all his blood felt like it was slowly draining out onto the floor.

Was this what it was like to die of a broken heart?

Hermione had warned him and _warned_ him that Draco had probably moved on. It would only make sense to shag the other students as necessary, and when that happens, it's easy to fall in love. She even pointed out that if Draco mentioned Sembene by name in his letters at least once each and never really mentioned the others except for the occasional anecdote, then it probably meant that they'd become lovers.

And now he had to accept the fact that they were serious enough for Draco to bring him home to meet his parents. Not even Harry really had that privilege! Sure, he'd had an awkward tea or two with the Malfoys, but mainly when he visited the Manor, his visit was confined to Draco's bedroom – specifically the bed. That had seemed like it was for the best at the time, but now Harry had to wonder if it had been a major indicator that Draco was never truly serious about him.

Which was another arrow to his heart. He took deep breaths and tried to calm down. Or at least stop hurting quite so much.

When he somehow managed to put himself back together, he stood up and held onto the back of a chair until his knees remembered how to work again. Then he cast a glamour on his face so that it didn't look like such an utter mess. After that, he purposely got dressed in one of the many outfits that Draco had bought him when they were together. It was nice but not too nice.

Feeling like he would love nothing more than to curl up and die, Harry prepared to do what would probably be _the_ hardest thing he'd ever done in his life – go visit Draco in the Manor and be a polite, friendly, and courteous guest despite his current state of despair. Harder! He'd even pretend to be happy for Draco and Sembene.

Taking a deep breath, he tossed floo powder in the fireplace and called out: “Malfoy Manor!” A moment later, he was emerging from the fireplace – one of nearly a hundred in the Manor – that was closest to the party. It was a sort of magical default that guests always arrived in the fireplace nearest to, well Lucius really, as head of the house. Unless they specified a particular one, such as Draco's bedroom. But in this instance, Draco and Lucius were together, and so Harry was able to avoid a minorly awkward conversation with the senior Malfoy.

In fact, the fireplace (and thus Harry) was far enough away from the party – in the grand dining room – that he was able to just stand back and watch them for a moment without them noticing. It was both heartwarming and painful to see Draco looking so happy. He practically glowed as he traded stinging barbs with his friends. Then – perhaps ironically – it was Sembene who noticed him.

“That man looks like the picture in the paper of Harry Potter. _Is_ that Harry Potter?” The man's expression was a weird cross between being certain that this was probably Harry (because Draco had talked about him) and being genuinely honored – and thus nervous – to meet him.

Everyone – Lucius and Narcissa, Pansy and Blaise, Theo and Daphne, Greg and Millie, Astoria and Draco – they all looked over at Harry with various emotions. Most seemed to tense slightly, as if certain that they'd need to defend themselves from him, or maybe defend Draco from him.

As for Draco, he lit up like Christmas had just come 20 days early and he'd gotten exactly what he wanted. “Harry! Merlin and Salazar's shriveled hearts! I missed you so damn much that I couldn't think straight and nearly blew myself up by brewing a potion wrong at least once a month!”

“This is true,” Sembene confirmed in all seriousness as Draco finished running over to Harry and throwing his arms around him. Harry had made things easier by running to meet him the moment he realized that Draco wasn't mad at him for showing up uninvited. In fact, he seemed to be happy about it.

“I missed you too. I nearly got sacked and banned from the Ministry at least once a month for getting into a shouting match with the Head Auror,” Harry admitted a bit sheepishly.

“Ah... so the rumors about that are true then,” Pansy remarked, sounding a bit surprised.

The newly reunited pair held each other tight and simply breathed one another in for a long moment. Harry felt perilously close to sobbing again – this time from sheer relief at having the love of his life in his arms after so long apart. Then Draco pulled back just enough to give Harry an emotional kiss that Harry immediately returned with everything he had.

“Aaaaand we lost him,” Blaise lamented with a heavy sigh.

Sure enough, Draco was dragged back from his sheer bliss just enough to remember that they were not alone, which he responded to by Apparating them straight to his bedroom. The moment they hit the bed, Harry was so focused on and determined to eliminate his trousers and pants as soon as possible that they simply evaporated. He also waved his hand around impatiently, casting spells on himself to prepare him that second.

“Inside me, now. Now! _Now!_ ” Harry insisted, demanded, and begged all in one.

“Yes, Potter, try to summon up one second's worth of patience as I finish unfastening my trousers – _and don't you dare destroy this pair!_ I _just_ got them as a present from my mother!”

Harry whinged like a bratty child, but Draco was fortunately as ready as he needed to be, his hard and leaking shaft springing from his barely open trousers – his pants having been pushed down a bit to make things possible. He rammed into Harry, neither capable of waiting so much as a second longer. It was hard and fast and grueling. It also lasted maybe a minute flat, but this wasn't such a terrible thing since they had by far one of the best orgasms of their lives.

It took longer to recuperate than it had to shag, but eventually, Draco stopped panting enough to chuckle. “I feel like I should wait _at least_ fifteen more minutes before I go rejoin my party.”

This made Harry chuckle too. “A half an hour at the minimum. An hour would be better, and maybe we should also cast a spell so that anyone trying to listen in hears something positively pornographic.”

“Brilliant!” Draco exclaimed with a grin before rewarding Harry with a kiss. They each cast a spell to do exactly as Harry suggested. Then Draco snuggled up to his much missed ex and possibly current boyfriend.

Harry sighed happily. He _never_ wanted to be away from Draco for longer than eight to ten hours at a time ever again. And even then, he'd probably try to sneak in a lunch break with him. He gave Draco a soft and tender kiss that turned extremely possessive, which Draco returned as good as he got.

“Come home with me,” Harry blurted out anxiously.

“My party,” Draco protested with a frown. “My parents have missed me every bit as much as we missed each other and I can't just leave now.”

“No, I mean _move_ back in with me. Tonight, tomorrow, I don't care, I just _need_ to spend every second between now and Monday morning with you – and even then I think I might need to take the day off and tie you to my bed so that I can cuddle with you until I feel like I've had enough.”

Draco laughed at that. “Kinky Potter!”

Harry grinned and gave him a kiss.

“But I'll have to talk to Sembene first,” Draco added somberly.

“Er...” Harry droned, suddenly remembering that Draco more than likely had formed a relationship with the rather good looking black man with the heavy South African accent.

Oblivious, Draco kissed Harry. “He's been wanting to move to England for years but traveled the world even before being accepted as one of Master Durhan's apprentices. I promised that he could stay here with me for a while, until he found a job and a flat and whatnot.”

“So... you two _are_ together...” Harry murmured softly, trying hard to hide his disappointment.

“I won't lie and say that we never shagged, but no, we're not together,” Draco stated with a shake of his head. “Just two horny blokes in the desert needing to keep warm during the freezing nights.”

“Oh...” Harry wasn't entirely sure how to feel about this. After a moment, he decided on appreciation that Draco was being honest with him, and after all, the currently golden tan blond had broken up with him for exactly this reason: so that they could shag others as needed and not be betraying each other. Even so, Harry considered himself fully committed to Draco the entire time. He sighed. “I, er... I did so as well. Not shag to keep warm, but because I just missed you so badly and I needed someone to... shag...” he trailed off awkwardly.

“I understand,” Draco murmured, giving him a soft kiss as a reward for his honesty. Then he cleared his throat nervously. “And... did you fall in love and get married while I was gone?”

“No,” Harry denied with a shake of his head. “It was a series of one offs with random muggles, but I always made sure to, well, scan myself for anything I might have caught when I sobered up the next morning. Only caught a minor infection once or twice, which I cleared up right away, so I'm clean – in case you were worried about that.”

“That's good, and I was careful too, so nothing to worry about here,” Draco murmured. They started a kiss that lasted long enough to get heated and work them both up again. Just when Draco took Harry's shaft in hand, they both yelped in startlement.

“BY MERLIN'S RAUNCHY COLON, DRACO! WE'VE PATIENTLY GIVEN YOU _AT LEAST_ TWENTY MINUTES, BUT I SWEAR THAT IF YOU DON'T GET REDRESSED AND BACK OUT HERE IN TWO MINUTES OR LESS, I'M GOING TO BREAK IN THERE AND DRAG YOUR NAKED ARSE OUT BY YOUR LEFT TESTICLE!”

“ _Pansy!”_ Draco roared in mortification after canceling the pornographic sound spells. The fact that she had used a Sonorus meant that the whole house and possibly all the various not close at all neighbors had head that as loudly as they had. He buried his head in Harry's shoulder and grumbled: “She will too.”

Harry chuckled in genuine amusement. “Then maybe we should listen to her.”

With a long suffering sigh, Draco nodded in agreement. “Alright. But after my party is over, we're going home and shagging for the rest of the night!”

“Deal!” Harry agreed enthusiastically. Then he winced sheepishly. “Er... I'm going to need to borrow some trousers...”

Draco roared with laughter as he pictured Harry attending the party exactly as he was. The image was highly enticing. “That'll teach you not to destroy things in your single minded drive to shag as soon as possible!”

“ _Draco_...” Harry whinged.

Two minutes later, they were fully dressed and ready to go when Pansy burst open the door. She was clearly disappointed to have missed even a part of the show, but jerked her thumb over her shoulder in a silent order to get back to the party. They followed her without protest.

The moment they were back with the others and everyone had (reluctantly in most cases) greeted Harry with passable politeness, Draco grabbed a green glass bottle that looked pretty old. A mysterious smirk crossed his face.

“Oi Potter, try some Chicha.”

Harry raised a brow and stared at the bottle in mild horror. “I'm not drinking that!”

“Oh, and why not?” Draco asked with a tone that was just a hair too innocent.

“Because that's the beer made by chewing corn and _spitting_ it back out, blech!” Harry exclaimed with a light shudder of revulsion.

“How do you even know that?” Draco asked curiously.

“It's beer! I normally _love_ beer!” Harry reminded him. “And I also love craft brews, so I've heard about it. Why do _you_ have some???”

“I just spent that last year trekking through deserts, jungles, and rainforests. They didn't exactly have Merlot and Chardonnay!” Draco pointed out.

“So you drank spit beer?!” Harry asked incredulously.

“When I had to. Needs must,” Draco replied with a shrug.

“And you call _me_ an uncultured barbarian!”

“Well you are.”

“And yet _I_ have the sense not to drink spit beer!”

“Chicha, and it's actually not half bad.”

“I'm still not drinking it!”

“Shouldn't this argument be the other way around?” Theo asked Blaise in confusion.

“Right?” Blaise returned with a bemused smirk.

“Just try it, Potter, or I'll hex your tongue to your arse and pour it down your throat!”

“Don't you dare, Malfoy!”

“Speaking of tongues in arses, don't you two do that rather a lot? What's the difference between that and saliva?” Pansy asked with interest. She always loved when Draco and Harry bickered.

Before Harry (or Draco) could give any thought to the fact that Lucius and Narcissa were sitting there waiting for everything to settle down with the look of beleaguered parents, he blurted out with: “The difference is that I only put my tongue in _his_ arse and I'm not drinking anything made from the spit of people I have never and will never meet!” He promptly blushed a violent red and covered his face with a hand.

“Well now!” Blaise and Theo, Pansy and Daphne exclaimed in unrepentant glee. “Do tell us all about it, Potter!”

“Please don't,” Greg muttered with an expression like he'd already heard far more about this subject than he'd like.

“Er...” Sembene droned in awkward confusion. This seemed like far too intimate a topic for someone who was still basically a stranger to the majority of them.

Before Harry could finish spluttering in an extremely reluctant and highly embarrassed attempt to actually tell them a little bit, Draco chuckled under his breath, opened the bottle of Chicha, and poured it over Harry's head.

“There! Now you _have_ to taste it!”

Harry pressed his lips firmly together and shook his head like a dog after a bath. He waved his hand in circles around his face to cast a drying spell. This caught Draco's attention, making him tilt his head to the side curiously.

“You're going to _die_ for that!” Harry roared in outrage.

“Why? It's not like your hair was doing anything special anyway,” Draco pointed out with a haughty and appraising look. “It may actually look slightly more tidy and less atrocious than usual. And have you stopped carrying a wand altogether?”

This made Harry's outrage evaporate almost instantly. “Huh? No, I carry my wand. It's here somewhere...” he trailed off as he patted himself down and checked inside his pouch. When he didn't find it, he ran his hands through his hair in case he'd left it there. This made his mildly damp hair stand up on end rather more wildly than usual. “Huh! Apparently I forgot it at home in my distraction.”

“What if you need to cast a shield spell?” Draco wondered with a frown of concern.

“I'm an Auror!” Harry reminded him unnecessarily with a light scoff. “I can do shields in my sleep!” He proved it by producing a shield without even twitching his fingers.

“Bloody show off!”

“Hey! You asked!”

“Do you two _ever_ stop bickering?” Millie demanded with a glare at them.

“Only when they're shagging,” Blaise answered for them.

“Pretty much,” Harry and Draco both admitted with matching shrugs.

“Well, _do_ try to restrain yourselves long enough to eat something,” Lucius sneered at them, more than ready for his son to stop antagonizing the bloody Savior for a few minutes.

“I make no promises!” This was once again said in unison, prompting both of them to laugh and grin at each other.

They all took seats around the dining table. Just after house elves finished serving them, Draco wrinkled his nose in response to an unpleasant odor. He leaned over and sniffed Harry.

“You smell disgusting at the moment, Potter.”

“That's because you poured a bottle of spit on me!” He cried out before sniffing himself. “Although, I think it actually smells rather nice...”

Draco waved a hand in front of his nose in an attempt to fan away the smell. “That's _not_ the smell of Chicha. It's... when was the last time you showered?”

“This morning,” Harry stated defensively. “Before I went on a raid at an illegal potions lab, got into a duel with half a dozen witches and wizards, had to have a Mediwitch slather something pungent on a hex wound on my left arm, got into a shouting match with my boss, was sent home to pace a hole in my drawing room floor, and then came here and, er...”

“Shagged a hole in Draco's enormous bed,” Blaise supplied helpfully with an impish grin.

“Yeah, that,” Harry grumbled with another blush.

“Well that would certainly explain it,” Draco remarked, not exactly pleased to hear that Harry had been hurt. “Go home and take a shower! I'll be there in a half an hour or so.”

Harry shook his head emphatically. “Nope! I told you, I'm sticking to your side every single second between now and when I have to return to work.”

Draco heaved a feigned put upon sigh. “Then I guess I'll just have to eat as fast as I can and rush you into the shower when we're done.”

“I think I'll take my time and chew everything as slowly as possible,” Harry decided impulsively.

Laughing, Draco leaned over and gave Harry a kiss. Then he cast a spell on his own nose to eliminate his sense of smell.

“That's cheating!” Harry protested with a grin.

“And not fair to the rest of us!” Theo added.

Narcissa was highly tempted to roll her eyes. “Boys... Did it not occur to you to... may I, Mr. Potter.”

“Sure thing, Mrs. Malfoy.”

“Please, it's Narcissa,” she said as she cast a few cleaning and deodorant spells on Harry. She looked as regal as ever in a rather somber yet elegant set of black dress robes. “There. Better.”

“Thanks, and you can call me Harry.”

Lucius harrumphed in disapproval at this. Harry turned to give him a light glare that was returned frostily.

“And _you_ can call me _oh Lord and Savior,_ you pretentious arse!”

Without missing a beat and with a deadpan expression, Lucius replied: “Would you care for some peas, _oh Lord and Savior_?”

Draco snorted in amusement.

“Why yes I would, thank you, oh pretentious arse,” Harry accepted graciously.

“I live to serve, _oh Lord and Savior_.”

“Would you care for some roasted potatoes, oh pretentious arse?”

“Why thank you, _oh Lord and Savior_.”

By this point, everyone was sniggering. Except for Lucius and Harry – and Narcissa, who looked ready to hex her husband. Sembene was sniggering but mostly because he wasn't entirely sure what was going on. He figured that it had to be some sort of inside joke.

 _Finally,_ the party came to an end and Harry and Draco were able to say goodbye to everyone and return home.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So... Did I make up for the cliffhanger?


	6. December 6th 2003

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Harry decides that the time is finally right to man up.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The table cloth I am crocheting for my grandma is coming along nicely, but it's reached the point where it's super repetitive and I actually *hate* repetitive, lol. It's a wonder I love to crochet so much, lol, but at least it keeps me occupied when waiting all day seems to take *forever* lol :-)

December 6 th  2003 – Saturday

 

 _Alright Harry, pull yourself together. This is it! This is the night you're_ finally _going to gather up the courage to take a risk. So man up and go do it!_

Harry squared his shoulders and pulled the ruffly pink apron off – which he tossed onto the counter. He had just finished making dinner and now picked up the two plates of seafood alfredo and hibachi grilled calamari to carry to the dining table. Almost as an afterthought, he levitated a bottle of blackberry wine to follow him.

“ _Draco_! Dinner's ready!” He sang out.

After a moment, Draco emerged from his well stocked potions lab. He was quiet and withdrawn. Unusually so. He sat at the table without really looking at Harry.

Harry felt his heart fall into his stomach. The last time Draco looked like that, he took off for a year. _I really don't know if I can handle another year without him. Maybe I can go with him? Would I really do that? Just quit my job and take off? Would he even want me to? Godric's curly little arse hairs! What if he wants to break up?!_

“Harry? Oi! Mutt!”

“Huh?” Harry asked, looking up at Draco, who suddenly looked fiercely determined.

“Will you marry me?”

“What???” Harry blurted out in utter shock.

“Will you marry me?”

“What? Wait! No! I was going to ask you! I have a ring and everything!” Harry protested, flinging his hands out for emphasis.

“I know you do,” Draco grumbled with a light glare. “I found it in your drawer _ages_ ago. I've been waiting for you to ask, but apparently you're just _never_ going to remember that you're a rash and impulsive Gryffindor!” As he said that, he pointed to the tattoo of a fierce looking Gryffin on Harry's left arm to emphasize his point.

“No, I mean, here!” Harry pulled the ring out of his pocket and presented it to Draco. “I was planning to ask tonight!”

Draco was quiet for a moment as he looked at the ring, then he smirked. “Does this mean you're saying yes?”

“No! Yes! Wait!” Harry held up the hand that wasn't holding the ring in a gesture asking Draco to wait a moment as he thought this through. “It means I'm asking you!”

“But I asked you first,” Draco pointed out haughtily.

“You didn't even get me a ring!” Harry countered a bit petulantly.

“The ring's not the important part – we can always buy one later,” Draco informed him, sounding a bit frosty now. “It's _the answer_ that's important.”

“Exactly! So answer the question!”

“You didn't even ask a question!”

“Yes I did!”

“Asking it in your head doesn't count!” Draco scoffed dismissively. “And besides, I asked first, so you need to answer my question!”

“No, you need to answer mine!”

“Potter! It's _not_ a bloody competition!”

“Exactly! So just say yes already!”

“You say yes!”

“No, you –”

“STOP SAYING NO!” Draco roared, suddenly resembling an irate dragon as he leaned over the table to glare at Harry.

“I'M NOT SAYING NO!”

“SO YOU'RE SAYING YES THEN?!”

“OF COURSE I'M BLOODY WELL SAYING YES!”

“FINALLY!!!” Draco shouted in profound relief. He reached across the table and seized Harry's shirt to yank him forward for a demanding kiss.

“So you're saying yes?” Harry asked hopefully when the kiss ended.

“YOU DIDN'T EVEN BLOODY ASK ME!”

“YES I DID!”

Draco gave Harry a _look_. This made Harry pause and rub the back of his neck with a light blush. Perhaps Draco was right.

“Er... Draco, will you marry me?”

“No.”

“ _What???_ ”

“Now you know how it feels!”

Harry exhaled in aggravation. “Fine! I'm sorry!”

Draco gave him a soft smile. “And yes, I'll marry you. Now give me that bloody ring before you manage to lose it.”

Feeling a sense of relief so heavy that it made him light-headed and dizzy, Harry slipped the ring on Draco's finger. Then they kissed and kept on kissing until they quite forgot all about their dinner and went straight to bed.

 

 


	7. December 7th 2004

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Tuesday is a bloody weird yet auspicious day.

December 7 th  2004 – Tuesday

 

“Remind me again why we waited an entire bloody year to get married and then picked a _Tuesday_ ,” Harry said as he and Draco (and their Best Men and Maids of Honor) got ready for their wedding ceremony.

“Because it was the most Auspicious day,” Draco obligingly reminded him as he adjusted his own tie.

“Uh-huh,” Harry murmured in disbelief, frowning as he realized that his tie had gotten tangled up somehow.

“Auspicious is a good thing, mutt. It _means_ that our marriage will be blessed and –”

Harry scoffed, knowing that there wasn't a power in the 'verse that could prevent their marriage from having all sorts of problems. Two quick and hot tempers being the main problem. Draco rolled his eyes.

“Fine! Mother _insisted_ ,” Draco admitted a bit sheepishly. “She really wants to give us our best chance.”

“But Tuesday is a bloody weird day to get married!” Harry exclaimed, _still_ trying to figure out what had gone wrong with his tie.

Draco slapped Harry's hands away and took over fixing the tangled tie. “Are you saying that you don't want to get married after all?”

“Of course not!” Harry blurted out in mild horror.

“You don't?” Draco asked with dangerously narrowed eyes.

“I'm saying I do!” Harry assured him hastily. “Wait! Are _you_ having second thoughts?”

“I'm well beyond second thoughts and into a hundred and second thoughts,” Draco muttered, not quite under his breath.

“What?” Harry asked in alarm.

“But don't worry, the pros far outweigh the cons,” Draco informed him.

“What cons?!” Harry demanded darkly.

Draco rolled his eyes. “Don't be daft! _Of course_ there are cons! The main one being that you are a bloody Gryffindor!”

“Better than a Slytherin!” Harry roared in outrage.

“And you have the intelligence of a troll –”

“I do not!”

“Who goes barging into trouble _as your job_!”

“Well someone has to!” Harry pointed out.

“Should we even try to stop them?” Ron asked wearily.

“Good luck with that, my friend,” Blaise wished him, with a pat on the shoulder.

“And that's not even the worst part!” Draco continued.

“Yeah?! Well what about you?!” Harry yelled.

“What _about_ me?” Draco asked with a tone of definite challenge.

“You're an arse!”

“You mean usually right about everything,” Draco corrected haughtily.

“And a bastard!”

“My parents were most certainly married when they had me.”

“And an enormous prick!”

“Which you love.”

“Yeah I do!” Harry roared in approval, promptly forgetting what they were arguing about. He pulled Draco into his arms and seized a possessive kiss.

Hermione took advantage of their distraction by trying to bring some semblance of order to Harry's hair. It resisted her as much as ever. Draco pulled back to smirk at her.

“It's a lost cause,” he stated, and then his smirk turned rather smug. “That said, watch this...” He tangled his fingers into Harry's hair and closed his eyes – as did Harry. Nothing happened for a moment as Draco silently accessed the vast ocean that was Harry's magic. Then he slowly pulled his hands free of Harry's hair, shaping Harry's magic and – by extension – his hair as he did so. When he was done, Harry's hair looked artistically messy and really rather good.

“That's much better than usual,” Ron remarked, clearly impressed.

Harry looked in the mirror and grinned to see that Draco had fixed his tie and hair and he now looked rather dashing. He turned to look at Draco and held out his hand. “So... are we doing this?”

“Not even viciously bloodthirsty Hippogriffs could stop me,” Draco stated, slipping his hand in Harry's.

“Nor megalomaniacs hell bent on world domination,” Harry added.

Smiling at each other, they led their friends to the Manor ballroom, which was set up for a small but lavish wedding ceremony. There weren't many guests at all, just those that Harry and Draco considered good friends and family. The moment the musicians spotted them, they began the agreed upon songs.

Hermione and Pansy linked arms, both wearing a fabulous dress that matched yet contrasted each other – Pansy in gold accented with red and Hermione in red accented in gold. They marched down the aisle, smiling at everyone to show support for their best friends on this special day. Blaise and Ron – both wearing dapper dress robes in black – linked arms and went next.

And then it was time for Harry and Draco. They held hands and walked to the front of the aisle where the officiant waited for them. He was an elderly wizard – that inexplicably reminded Harry of Dobby (perhaps it was because he was very wrinkly with big and somewhat floppy ears) – who looked vaguely confused by the fact that there were no brides, but then his confusion seemed to clear up as he smiled benignly at them. He led them through the short ceremony they had agreed upon.

“And now, dear friends, the grooms have decided upon non-traditional vows,” he informed the audience.

Harry pointed at the musicians, who responded by beginning a soft and lovely song. He and Draco smiled at each other as they waited for Harry's part to begin.

“Fo~r yo~~u... there'll be no more crying... Fo~~r yo~~u... the sun will be shining... And I fee~~l that when I'm with you... it's alright... I know it's right...”

Draco took over when it was his turn. “To yo~~u... I'll give the world... To~~ yo~~u... I'll never be co~~ld... 'Cause I fee~~l that when I'm with you... it's alright... I kno~~w it's right...”

Harry took a deep breath to ward off the tears of joy that threatened to turn him into a blubbering mess. “And the [songbi~~rds](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wTi19MPOvDw) are singing, like they know the sco~~re... and I love you, I love you, I love you, like never before...” As he sang about love, he slipped the dragon ring on Draco's finger so that it could curl up and forever after guard the diamond engagement ring he wore.

There was a rather long music-filled pause, and then it was Draco's turn to finish the song. “And I wish you all~~ the love, in the world... bu~~t most of all, I~~ wish it from myself... And the songbi~~rds keep singing, like they know the sco~~re... And I love you, I love you, I love you, like never befo~~re... like never before... like never before.” When Draco was finished slipping the dragon ring on Harry's finger and rainbow engagement ring, he kissed it for good measure.

After the music ended, there was a moment of emotional silence. Then the officiant smiled.

“I now pronounce you husband and husband. You may ki –” he fell silent with a soft laugh as Harry and Draco were already kissing quite passionately.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I feel like I cheated y'all out of sexy times twice in a row, but I also feel like it just wasn't right for the tone of the chapters, sorry, there will be sexy times in the next chapter :-)


	8. December 8th 2005

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Harry is excited to be celebrating Christmas with his husband.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I *finally* got around to binge watching the last season of Lost Girl, and oh man, all the feels right now...

December 8 th  2005 – Thursday

 

Harry was frankly excited. This was the first year that he and Draco were going to celebrate Christmas as a married couple. Last year didn't count because they'd been on a remote island somewhere for their honeymoon and hadn't stopped shagging long enough to remember what day it was. This year...

They were having a party! They were going to invite all their friends, and Harry was going to cook up a feast, and there would be alcohol and music and decorations! Speaking of, Harry held up a gigantic ornament that a little boy had sent him as a thank you for defeating Voldemort – once the boy had gotten old enough to learn about it. It appeared to be made out of baked dough, was oddly misshapen, and had been painted a riot of colors.

“Where should I put this?”

“In the trash,” Draco stated with barely a glance.

“Draco!” Harry chided. “This was a gift!”

“From who? A leper?” Draco asked with a raised brow.

“From a grateful little boy who wanted to thank me!”

“Is this little boy ours and you just never told me about him?”

“No...”

“Then we are not obligated to hang that rubbish anywhere near our house.”

“Draco! That's just mean! Besides, I rather like it.”

“Then put it under your side of the bed.”

“ _Draco_...”

“Fine,” he capitulated with a sigh. “Hang it over the mantle.” He held up a delicate crystal and gold Angel that his mother had given them. “But I'm putting this on top of the tree.”

“Alright. That'll look nice,” Harry agreed with an approving smile. He then held up a handmade and badly misspelled banner.

“Herpy Creesmoose?” Draco asked with a brow raised in disbelief.

“It's from a fan...”

“I don't care. Get rid of it or I will Incendio it.”

“Draco...”

“No! I _will_ _not_ suffer from every single badly made piece of fanmail you've been sent! I let that one slide because it's from a kid, but this one is at least a hundred times more horrid, so no! I don't care if it was made by an infant prodigy, it goes in the rubbish bin!”

Harry growled in aggravation, but gave in. He picked up a drawing that was supposed to be of him dressed as Santa – he thought. He wasn't actually sure.

“Oh fuck no!” Draco vetoed emphatically. “In fact, get out of here! Go to the kitchen and bake a cake or something!”

“And leave you to decorate without me?!”

“YES! It's the only way we'll end up with something worth looking at!”

“That's not the point, Draco! _The point_ is to celebrate love and happiness!”

“Which we can just as easily do with some taste!” Draco pointed out.

“But I want to decorate too!” Harry protested, holding up a rather tasteful and swirly decorative decal that said: Naughty or Nice?

“ _Fine_!” Draco ground out as he snatched the decal from Harry and held it up to determine where it would look best. “Pick out the three or four things you absolutely cannot live without and we'll put them up. Everything else will have a little class!”

Harry pulled on his hair and rolled his head around on his shoulders. “Fine! But then I'm baking the most decadent cake I can find a recipe for and _you're_ going to eat every bite!”

“What good will that do?! I'll just get fat!”

“Exactly! You'll be adorably fat and might think twice about being such a judgmental bastard!”

“There's nothing wrong with being discerning! And it's better than being a sappy sentimental moron!”

“Says you!”

“Exactly! Which means I'm right! Now just go bake that cake!” Draco commanded in no uncertain terms before yanking Harry close and giving him a kiss so demanding that Harry quite forgot all about everything. Draco shoved him in the direction of the kitchen. “Cake!”

“Er... right,” Harry murmured, still slightly dazed, as he stumbled toward the kitchen. Once there – after taking a drink of icy water to cool down from his more than half ready to go state of desire – he summoned his laptop and looked up the recipe for a chocolate cake he had wanted to try making for a while now. It was called: Better Than Sex Cake.

– One box of organic German chocolate cake mix (he normally made all cakes from scratch but had decided to save a little time since he'd planned to make a _lot_ of food for the party – some of which was already slow roasting in the oven.)

– One can of organic sweetened condensed milk (Again, needs must.)

– Six ounces caramel (Which he actually did make by hand to avoid iffy ingredients.)

– A bowl of lightly sweetened with maple syrup, hand-whipped (well, magically, using a whipping spell) cream. (This was his favorite and he could eat the entire bowl all by itself if he wasn't paying attention.)

– Three bars of organic chocolate covered toffee, chopped into bits. (Yeah, he had a thing about organic food. Good thing it was a thing Draco shared. Actually, insisted upon. Poncy bastard!)

Harry started by baking the cake, which he let cool for a bit before poking holes in the cake with the handle of a wooden spoon. Then he poured the condensed milk over the cake and let it finish cooling. This was when he actually prepared the caramel and whipped cream. When the cake was cool, he drizzled the caramel over it liberally, frosted it with the whipped cream, drizzled the rest of the caramel over that, and then topped it with the chopped toffee.

“ _Oh Draco..._ ” he sang out gleefully.

“Is dinner ready?” Draco asked hopefully as he poked his head into the kitchen. “Salazar's abnormally large and crooked nose! It smells _divine_ in here!”

Harry grinned. “Yeah, we can eat some of this food I'm making for dinner, but more importantly, I've finished that cake that's going to make you fat. Come here and eat it.”

Draco looked like he was suddenly presented with an onerous and arduous task. “I don't actually want to be fat.”

“Aww cuddlecat! You'll look _adorable_ with a layer of soft and cuddly pudge on you!”

Draco glared at him, growling softly. “Will. Not.”

Harry cut a slice of cake and levitated it onto a plate. Then he separated off a forkful and held it out to Draco. He made the offer nearly irresistible by pouting becomingly.

Rolling his eyes, Draco felt his resolve melt. He tasted the proffered bite, and then nearly had an orgasm. “Fuck that's good!”

Harry smirked, rather chuffed. “It's called Better Than Sex Cake.”

Draco raised a brow. “Well, I wouldn't go quite that far. Whoever named it must not being doing it quite right.”

Harry moaned as he ate a bite of cake, and then moaned again as he ate another. “I dunno, sounds fairly accurate to me.”

“Is that so?” Draco asked with a tone of definite challenge.

“Mmmhmm,” Harry confirmed with a nod as he ate another bite.

Draco tackled him to the ground. “Then I guess I'll just have to prove you wrong.”

Harry grinned as Draco yanked his trousers off. “Oh? And how're you going to do that?”

“Like this!” Draco announced just before he attempted to swallow Harry's shaft whole.

Harry made a sound that suggested that he was being strangled, nearly choking on the little bit of cake that was left in his mouth. Then he moaned as Draco rapidly made his body felt like molten lava. “Yeah... yeah I can see how this is better than some silly cake...”

Draco hummed in approval, making Harry's knees shake and his balls tighten. After filling Draco's mouth with what felt like gallons, Harry melted a bit, forming a puddle on the floor. He insistently tugged Draco closer so that they could kiss as Harry wanked his gorgeous husband. It didn't take long for Draco to roll onto his back and groan with profound relief as he sent some spunk rocketing across the room.

Harry snickered and bit Draco's neck. “I'm pretty sure you got that on the slice of cake I cut for you.”

Draco shrugged, not caring in the slightest. “Wouldn't be the first time we ate that.”

Laughing, they kissed and nuzzled each other's necks. Unexpectedly, the fire turned green and Ron came through. He looked at them questioningly for a moment before shaking his head in amusement.

“You know, it's more comfortable to shag in a bed. Ooo! Cake!” He promptly grabbed the slice on the plate and dug in.

“Er, Ron, wait!” Harry tried to stop him, actually holding out his hand as if trying to stop him by sheer will, but it was too late.

Ron looked speculative for a moment as he inspected the cake. “Hmm... a bit salty, but all in all, not bad.” He shrugged and ate another bite.

Harry gaped at his best friend in horror, not entirely sure what to say. “Er...”

Draco burst out laughing. “That's because that cake was made with _love_ , Weasley! Using only the most high class and refined ingredients,” he informed him with a devilish grin and a gesture at himself.

“Er...” Ron droned in confusion, looking back and forth between the half naked men. Then he looked back at the cake. Suddenly, he appeared rather green. “I think I'm going to be sick!” He practically tossed the cake back onto the counter as he ran from the room.

“He'll never do that again.”

“ _Draco_!”

Grinning rather smugly and with unrestrained glee, Draco pulled Harry close and gave him a triumphant kiss. With any luck, Ron would walk in on something he fervently didn't want to see and learn his lesson to never come over unannounced again.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Poor Ron, lmao ^_^


	9. December 9th 2006

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Harry and Draco attend a party at the Burro and each come to the same conclusion.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I feel like I should warn readers that the last 4 paragraphs of the chapter contain Harry topping, but can be safely skipped and shouldn't affect the upcoming chapters in the slightest :-D

December 9 th  2006 – Saturday

 

Harry was sat on a big old comfortable arm chair holding Ron and Hermione's three month old son, Hugo, in his arms. The two of them were staring at each other in fascination. Harry loved the way the baby looked like a tiny version of Ron, but... so much cuter! The baby seemed obsessed with trying to get a fistful of Harry's wild black hair.

At Harry's feet, Ron and Hermione's two year old daughter sat playing with a puzzle cube, looking positively determined to solve it. Ron was over in the corner chatting with his brother George while Hermione was sitting next to the fireplace talking to Percy about some new regulation or other. Percy's wife, Audrey, was on the floor playing with their two kids while George's wife, Angelina, sat on the couch nursing their six month old.

Bill and Fleur were either in the kitchen or out back, but their kids and Teddy were busy playing toy soldiers – the seemingly alive wizarding version – with Percy's. Charlie sat on the couch next to Angelina and Andromeda yammering on about dragons, his boyfriend across the room talking to Draco. They looked like they might be telling each other jokes – possibly at Charlie's (and/or Harry's) expense – because they kept quietly sniggering.

Draco looked over at Harry and saw a somewhat haunted look on his face. Harry was staring at Hugo as if he was the son Harry had given up years ago and finally got to see again for the first time. He tickled Hugo's cheek with a finger, grinning when the baby cooed at him.

Draco felt his breath catch and his heart skip a beat. If life had worked out differently for him and he'd done what his parents wanted, he'd have been married to a witch with at least one baby by now. He used to think that having kids (such as that Heir that was expected of him) wasn't so important to him. That it was nothing more than pressure his parents put on him. But now...

He took a sip of his drink and looked away.

Since this was the _only_ time all month that _all_ the Weasleys could make it to a family party this year, they were planning to stay the weekend. Part of Harry wanted to stay too, but he started feeling unexpectedly overwhelmed a couple of hours after dinner. So, he apologized to everyone for feeling peaky before taking Draco by the hand and Apparating home.

“Hey...” Draco purred soothingly as he cupped Harry's face in his palm. “What's wrong?”

Harry shook his head. “Nothing. You know I love you.”

Draco frowned in concern. “That wasn't the question.”

Harry sighed, knowing that Draco would just keep at it like a dog with a bone until he confessed. “It's just... It's just Hugo. Well, all of them, really. They're all just so adorable and yes, they _can_ be little imps, but that just makes them funny to watch. My whole life, I was more or less alone wishing I had a real family out there somewhere that'd come save me, I guess I just...” he trailed off with a helpless shrug.

“Want to have a baby of our own?” Draco supplied helpfully.

Harry pressed his lips together and nodded.

Draco smiled faintly. “Yeah, I think it's about time.”

“What?” Harry blurted out, snapping to full attention.

“Well, I also realized that I want a baby,” Draco explained, his smile still small, but warm and loving. “I didn't think I did. I actually thought I'd be happy to let the Malfoy name die out with me, but...” He stepped closer and wrapped his arms around Harry. “When I saw you holding those kids, I just... _wanted_ that. I wanted to see you holding _our_ kids. I... want... kids...”

Harry felt completely consumed by joy and squeezed Draco as tight as he could. “You mean that?!”

Draco laughed, delighted by Harry's reaction. He ran a hand through Harry's hair, making it behave just slightly. “I do.”

Harry literally lifted the taller man off his feet and spun him around in a circle. “I'm so happy!” Then reality hit, making him utterly depressed. “But wait, how are we going to do this? I suppose I could ask Ginny or Luna to carry a baby for us – Luna would do it, but Ginny probably wouldn't, she _is_ currently pregnant after all. Maybe Hermione?”

Draco raised a brow and looked at Harry like he was an idiot. “I'll make a fertility potion and one of us can carry the baby. I'm warning you now, if we can't decide who has to do the onerous take of being pregnant and draw lots or something, I'm cheating so that you lose – so you'd probably better just get used to the idea that you're going to be pregnant.”

Harry was speechless for a moment, his mouth hanging open. “We – th-that – _we can do that_?!”

“Yeah, er, why wouldn't we be able to?” Draco wondered, honestly confused.

“Because we're men!” Harry reminded him with a look like he was thinking: duh!

“Wizards,” Draco corrected with a soft smirk. “Almost anything is possible with enough magic.”

Squealing giddily, Harry spun Draco around in another circle, stole a possessive kiss, and then carried him straight to their bed. Draco snorted in amusement.

“It's not going to happen right now, mutt!”

“Aww cuddlecat!” Harry purred, stroking Draco's back. “It doesn't matter if it's right now, it's possible! We're going to have a baby!”

“Yes, I suppose we are,” Draco murmured between heavy kisses. He didn't even notice when Harry vanished all their clothes, which if he had, he would have been irate about since they were new, but...

Harry waved his hand impatiently at Draco to fully prepare him for intrusion in a matter of seconds, and then wasted no time in lining himself up for entry. Draco moaned happily and shifted to give Harry better access.

The moment Harry was buried deep, he paused to stave off the far too imminent climax. “I love you,” he exhaled reverently before kissing Draco again.

“I love you too,” Draco murmured softly, kissing him return. “Now move before I hex your bollocks off!”

Smirking, Harry did.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Last night I watched a British movie on Netflix called Birthday that deals with the topic of Male Pregnancy as if it were something that can happen (using science I guess) and is somewhat normal. I *really* wanted to like the movie, despite the fact that I personally can only tolerate Mpreg when there's some sort of magic or other logical explanation for it. Creature fics with Mpreg just turn me off because nope, lol. (Same with fics that throw it in there as a surprise to the couple without explaining how it was possible. Shrugs.)  
> ANYWAY, the movie was interesting, it just did not go into the possible pseudo science of the Male Pregnancy at all. Nor did it really answer the questions I had. The movie was actually made - as far as I can tell - simply to highlight what women go through in labor and delivery by making it a bit of satire (again, I think) by reversing the gender roles.  
> If you've seen the movie, I'd love to know what you thought of it :-)


	10. December 10th 2007

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Harry threatens to murder his Healer.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Today - December 10th is my grandma's birthday. The same Grandma I'm crocheting the table cloth for, and it (the 9th) was also a busy day for me with meeting with a realtor and going to my hubby's company christmas party, so I nearly forgot to post this, yikes! But even though I'm still only an hour past midnight in my part of the world, I feel like I'm late, lol :-)

December 10 th  2007 – Monday

 

“ _Oh God, Draco, why did I ever agree to this???”_

“Just breathe, Harry, the Healer's on her way. It won't be long now,” Draco assured him, brushing a sweaty clump of hair out of Harry's face and kissing the hand he held.

“ _But I'm dying!_ ” Harry wailed melodramatically.

“It's just labor,” Draco reminded him, feeling highly amused but knowing better than to let a hint of that bleed through.

“ _JUST?!?! JUST?!?! I'D LIKE TO SEE YOU DO THIS, YOU ARROGANT BASTARD! HOW DARE YOU MOCK ME! I AM GIVING BIRTH TO YOUR SONS!”_

“Calm down Harry,” Draco murmured soothingly.

“ _CALM DOWN?! YOU CALM DOWN! I'M BEING MURDERED BY A WOMB THAT INSISTS THAT IT'S TIME FOR ME TO DIE THIS INSTANT!”_

“You're not dying,” Draco said, reasonably sure it was true.

“ _I AM! I AM!”_

Draco thanked the founders and every God he'd ever heard of that the Healer arrived just then.

“Sounds like it's time to have some babies, shall we?” She sounded inappropriately cheerful, in Harry's opinion. He glared at her darkly.

“Draco, do me a favor and Avada Kedavra her if she starts humming.”

“Can't, love, I don't want to go to Azkaban now that we have babies to raise,” Draco pointed out pragmatically.

“I'm Deputy Head Auror and I'm prepared to swear that she died of natural causes,” Harry informed him, still lightly glaring at the Healer.

Healer Rowe took this in stride, chuckling as she busily cast all the spells she needed to in order to prepare Harry for delivery. Harry sighed in relief as one of the spells numbed him, thereby reducing his pain to bearable levels. He squeezed Draco's hand, grateful that his husband was by his side for this whole ordeal.

Draco paled alarmingly and even turned a bit green as he watched the Healer cast cutting hexes on Harry's abdomen. Blood and yellow fluid gushed everywhere. Draco pressed his free hand over his mouth and did his best to hold back...

When Rowe pulled a purplish ball from the hole in Harry's stomach, Draco lost it. He hastily bent over – aiming as far away from Harry and Rowe as possible – and vomited. Each time he dared to look up to see how things were progressing, he'd have to hastily bend over and add a bit more to the rather large pool of sick. Harry purred in sympathy, rubbing his back as best he could with his free hand.

“Alright, that's done,” Rowe announced cheerfully just as Draco's head started to spin and he thought he was going to pass out. “Two beautiful little boys – would you like me to settle your stomach so you can meet your wee lads, Mr. Malfoy-Potter?”

Draco nodded, sighing in relief when her spell took effect. He stood up straight and vanished the mess on the floor. Then he turned to see Harry holding one baby while the other lay in his lap. He gasped as a feeling like a punch in the gut took his breath away.

Harry laughed softly before grinning impishly. “You know, I'm beginning to see why you made such a lousy Death Eater.”

“Oi, shut it, you mangy mutt!” Draco grumbled unappreciatively.

“Aww, cuddlecat!” Harry purred, grinning wider than ever. He beckoned for Draco to come closer and sit on the bed. “Which one do you want to hold first?”

“Which one was born first?” Draco wondered as he carefully sat on the bed and picked up the baby in Harry's lap.

“The one I'm holding,” Harry answered, giving the baby a kiss.

Draco nodded in understanding. “Alright, then as we agreed, you get to name that one and I get to name this one.”

Harry nodded in agreement. “Right. I'm naming mine Albus.”

“Why the fuck would you do that?!” Draco asked in dismay.

Harry glared at him even as the Healer snickered while she subtly cast spells to check up on the health of the babies and Harry. “Why wouldn't I?”

“That man was a menace!”

“He was a great man!” Harry insisted.

“He was a dotty old fool!”

“He was brilliant! The most powerful wizard since Merlin!”

“He continually allowed at least one profoundly moronic young Gryffindor to constantly place himself in danger!”

“I did that without his permission, thank you very much!”

“He convinced you to let yourself _die_ at Voldemort's hands!”

“Which worked out for the best since I'm still standing here having babies and arguing with you!”

“You're _really_ going to name him after that Slytherin in Hufflepuff's clothing?” Draco asked, reaching a sort of reluctant acceptance.

Harry nodded in confirmation. “Yeah. Albus Severus Malfoy-Potter.”

Draco sighed in aggravation and defeat. “Fine.” He kissed the son in his arms. “And this one is Scorpius –”

“What sort of name is Scorpius?!” Harry asked in utter confusion.

“It's a constellation and a name to be proud of!”

“But it _sounds_ like you're just setting him up to be a bad man – a misunderstood and possibly feared man!”

“What makes you think that?” Draco asked in bafflement.

“Scorpions are lethal, Draco,” Harry muttered, rolling his eyes as he wondered how Draco didn't already understand this. “That's the sort of name a hit-wizard would choose.”

“Scorpius was a loyal servant to and protector of Athena. It's a proud and noble name,” Draco pointed out.

“Ever heard the tale of the Scorpion that needed a ride across the river, only to sting the, er, duck I think, that gave him the ride – killing them both?”

“Yeah. So alright, the name has a few deadly connotations, I still don't see a problem with that. It just means that he'll be a good person to have around in difficult situations. Who knows, maybe he'll take after you and be an Auror hunting criminals. That _would_ be fulfilling the role assigned to him by Athena – er, the original one, that is.”

Harry sighed in capitulation. “Alright. We agreed that I get to name one and you the other, so I _suppose_ I can accept the name – even if it _will_ take some getting used to.”

Draco smiled and kissed his son again. “Scorpius Hyperion Malfoy-Potter.”

Both men stared at their babies with no small amount of awe. A cozy fire off to the side of the bed making the room oh so warm and comforting. Harry had a tear in his eye when he looked up at Draco. “I can't believe we _made_ these...”

“Yeah... it's a miracle...”

Feeling nearly crushed by the weight of so many emotions, Harry leaned over and kissed Draco.

 


	11. December 11th 2008

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Harry is practically required to attend a Ministry ball, and he brings Draco as his date.

December 11 th  2008 – Thursday

 

“They'll be fine,” Harry stated flatly.

“But –”

“ _Draco_ , I'm more or less _required_ to attend this ball, and –”

“But they're _only_ a year old, Harry!”

“They're old enough to spend a few hours with their grandparents without us!”

“But what if they fuss? What if they get lost or do accidental magic that burns the Manor down?!”

“Are you saying that you don't think your parents can handle watching our boys for a few hours?” Harry asked, a brow raised in amusement.

“I'm saying that our boys need us!” Draco cried out emphatically.

“And _we_ need a date night before I go stir crazy!”

Draco sighed in defeat. “Yeah, we do...”

“So let's stop arguing and go dance with each other for others to gawk at and hopefully decide to donate heavily to charity,” Harry suggested, very reasonably, in his opinion. Draco nodded, still seeming a bit reluctant, but also excited for an opportunity to dress up and prove to the world that he was still a refined and elegant Malfoy – despite having two imps who had made it their goal in life to drool or spit up on him as much as possible.

Grinning, Draco silently admitted that he _loved_ having a chance to see Harry dressed to kill. Harry was usually atrocious, wearing worn out clothes as much as possible, except for when he just threw off his clothes altogether and lounged around naked. Sadly, Draco hadn't had the energy to make use of that most excellent and favorite sight as often as he'd like. Being the stay at home parent took up all his energy and it was a good thing that his potions could be put in stasis and worked on whenever he found a spare minute – usually when the boys were taking a nap. He had decided to focus on making only rare potions that were desperately needed by Healers and were in demand because only Masters could make them. After all, regular potion makers could make everything else.

Anyway, it _would_ be nice to get out for a few hours...

Not too long after they entered the rarely used Ministry ballroom, a witch wearing a shimmering red gown – who was clearly one of the official hostesses for the fundraiser – walked up to greet them. She thanked Harry profusely for attending the event that was intended to celebrate the 10 th  Christmas since the Final Battle _and_ raise money to help support those injured or orphaned in the war. Harry sort of glazed over and wondered how long he'd have to endure her chattering before he could politely extricate himself.

She noticed this and held up a bowl full of small and colorfully wrapped presents with pretty gold stars on them. “Christmas Cracker?”

Harry and Draco each selected one – Harry taking a red package while Draco took a green one. Thanking her, they wandered off to open them, but then got distracted by the music. Slipping the crackers in their pockets for later, they took each other's hands and walked to a clear spot on the dance floor.

“Have I ever mentioned that I'm glad you learned how to dance?” Draco asked sensually in Harry's ear.

“We don't get a chance for me to practice near often enough,” Harry lamented.

“Maybe when the boys are older, we can designate a night of the week as a date night and go out dancing,” Draco suggested with a soft smile.

“I'd like that,” Harry murmured with a matching smile. They held each other close and flowed with the music for a while before a portly and blustery older man made his way in their direction. Harry groaned, reluctant to make small talk with the opinionated man.

“I think now would be a good time to visit the loo,” Draco stated after he looked at what had made Harry frown and spotted the man.

“Coward!” Harry accused in a low hiss.

“Coward that you love,” Draco pointed out, kissing Harry before taking off for the loo.

“Ah! Mr. Potter!” The man boomed with an expression that suggested he was enraptured to be in Harry's presence.

“Malfoy-Potter,” Harry corrected him automatically with a polite smile.

“Yes,” he acknowledged with a slight frown of distaste. “So lovely to see you again. How've you been?”

“Exhausted as the parent of twin boys,” Harry informed him. “Is there anything in particular I can help you with, Mr. Boder?”

“Oh, nothing much,” Mr. Boder assured him with a smarmy grin. “I was just thinking about...” he rambled on about his various business investment opportunities for far longer than Harry wanted to listen.

Meanwhile, Draco finished his business in the loo in record time so that he could sneak off to one of the Ministry fireplaces that was intended for firecalls – as opposed to actually flooing in or out. After tossing a pinch of the provided powder into the fire, Draco stuck his head in it.

“Draco, love, is there a problem?” His mother asked him with a frown of concern when she spotted him in her fireplace.

“No. Everything's fine. Harry's talking to Mr. Boder and –”

He was cut short by a snort from Lucius. “And you naturally wanted to avoid hearing a word that self-absorbed old windbag has to say?”

“Well, that too,” Draco admitted with a tilted nod. “But more importantly, I wanted to check up on the boys.”

Narcissa elegantly waved her hand in the direction of the two adorable cherubs. “As you can clearly see, they're playing quite happily.” And they were too, sitting on the floor and giggling as they kicked each other's feet and banged toys on the floor.

“Good,” Draco stated in relief. “But maybe I should come through for a moment to give them kisses and remind them that we'll be back in a few hours.” He had forgotten that this floo couldn't do that.

Lucius rolled his eyes. “No. You should get back to the party and keep an ear out for lucrative business opportunities.”

Draco sighed and nodded in capitulation. “Fine, just please don't hesitate to call for me if they so much as sneeze!”

“Will do, love,” Narcissa promised insincerely.

Having no reason to delay, Draco returned to the party.

“Everything alright?” Harry wondered with a frown of concern. “You were in the loo a rather long time.”

“Everything's fine,” Draco assured him with a warm smile. “I just got caught up talking to someone.”

“Ah,” Harry stated in understanding, glad to hear that Draco was mingling after all. “I _just_ managed to extricate myself from Mr. Boder. Nearly had to pledge 50,000 galleons to something involving an expedition to Africa, I think.”

“Thank Merlin's racy knickers that you managed to avoid that!” Draco blurted out in relief. Yes, they could afford that, but why waste the money?

Harry chuckled. “I'm warning you now, if you ever abandon me to talk to him myself again, I'll fund his next ten expeditions and make sure the money comes from _your_ vault.”

“Bastard!” Draco exclaimed in only half feigned horror.

Harry chuckled and opened his mouth to retort with something sarcastic, but he was interrupted by a gasp from a scandalized witch.

“What did you call him?” She demanded with a scowl.

Draco sighed, tutting softly (and unconsciously) to indicate that he felt slightly put upon. “I called him my most beloved husband who is apparently reckless with money. Why? What did you hear?”

“Er...” she was clearly confused. Not about them being married – that was common knowledge – but about the way Draco had talked to Harry; calling him a rude name like it was perfectly acceptable. She shook her head slightly and plastered a smile on her face. “May I have this dance, Mr. Potter?”

“Malfoy-Potter,” Harry corrected reflexively. “And I assure you that my husband is a far better dancer. Would you care to dance with him instead while I visit the loo?”

“Oh, er... that would be lovely...”

Draco glared at Harry. “As I said: bastard!”

Harry grinned at him. “I think you're confusing that with arse. A bastard is born that way, I'm clearly doing it on purpose just to irritate you.”

“Clearly,” Draco muttered unappreciatively. He held out his hand to the witch. “If we dance long enough, he's bound to return from the loo, and then I'll hex him if he doesn't dance with you as well.”

“Oh!” The witch purred, perking up at this promise.

Harry rushed to the loo and had his slash as quickly as possible so that he could sneak off to the nearest fireplace and make a firecall.

“Harry,” Narcissa greeted with an amused smile. “Is something wrong?”

“No,” he assured her. “I've just spent most of the night so far persuading Draco that are boys are fine, so I thought I should check to make sure I was telling the truth.”

“Yes, they're fine. Playing as happily as ever,” Narcissa informed him, a sweep of her hand inviting him to look for himself.

Smiling, Harry nodded to himself in relief. “Good. Now, I should probably return to Draco before he tells the witch I made him dance with every embarrassing story about me he can think of.”

Narcissa chuckled softly. “Oh no, only the ones that he can't use against you at some point.”

Harry gave her a flat look that stated he was dead certain she was right. After that, he made his way back to Draco – who was impressing the witch with his sheer talent at dancing. When he arrived at their side, Draco gave him a lingering smooch before slipping the witch's hand in Harry's.

“As promised, your turn. I'm going to go get something to drink.”

Harry smiled at him and returned the smooch. “I'll take a drink too.”

“We'll see,” Draco drawled haughtily before walking away.

Chuckling, Harry inadvertently set about proving to the witch why she was better off dancing with Draco after all. The moment he was no longer paying attention to Draco, the former Slytherin snuck off to the fireplace and made another firecall to Malfoy Manor.

“For Salazar's sake, Draco!” Lucius swore in mild disgruntlement. “They're fine!”

Draco sighed grumpily. “ _Fine_...” He looked over to confirm that this was true, and then returned to the party, actually grabbing an extra glass of champagne for Harry from a passing tray.

Once reunited, the two of them drank their champagne and nibbled on a bit of food before returning to the dance floor for a while. Draco claimed he had to go to the loo after their third dance – which coincided with Harry having to give a speech anyway. Lucius threatened to hex Draco if he called one more time.

When Draco deigned to dance with Hermione, Harry took the opportunity to firecall the Manor – Narcissa patiently reassuring him – before returning to have a quick conversation with Ron about how the Chudley Cannons were doing that year.

An hour later, Draco stood up from the table where he and Harry – and a few others – were eating some of the tastier things offered by the buffet. “I'm going to go to the loo.”

“Again?” Harry asked with a frown of concern.

“I've drank a lot tonight,” Draco said defensively.

“Alright,” Harry stated with a shrug. He waited until Draco was out of sight before standing up too. “I actually need to visit the loo as well.” He informed the others at his table, figuring that he'd have just enough time while Draco was in the loo to make a quick firecall.

Just after he rounded the corner, he stopped short. “Draco!”

Draco nearly banged his head as he hastily pulled free from the green fire. “What?”

“What are you doing?”

“I'm, er, wait! What are _you_ doing?” He demanded suspiciously.

Harry flushed in embarrassment. “I just figured that we've been gone several hours now and the boys might miss us...”

“That's all I'm doing,” Draco stated with a purposely smooth face.

“Then why did you say you were going to the loo?” Harry wondered.

“I'm planning on going there too,” Draco replied evasively.

Harry gave him a _look_. “Draco...”

“Fine! I've been checking up on them every chance I get!”

“And...?” Harry questioned.

“And they're fine,” Draco admitted a bit reluctantly. “They're actually asleep now.”

“Oh,” Harry muttered in disappointment. “Suppose there's no point in checking then.”

“You _could_...” Draco murmured, sweeping a hand out to illustrate the fact that the fire was still connected to the Manor.

Harry nodded and stuck his head in the fire.

“Hello again, Harry. Still having a nice time?” Narcissa asked with a polite smile.

Harry nodded and looked over to where she pointed at the sleeping boys. “Thanks. Sorry to bother you.”

“It's no bother,” Narcissa replied with a genuine smile.

“Speak for yourself!” Lucius harrumphed grumpily.

Harry flipped him off almost fondly before waving goodbye to Narcissa and pulling free of the fire. He and Draco stood there looking at each other a bit awkwardly for a moment.

“So... I suppose that we should probably relax and focus on dancing now that they're asleep,” Harry suggested.

Draco chuckled in mild embarrassment. “Yeah, I suppose it _is_ a bit silly to worry so much.”

Harry pulled him close and gave him a kiss that was far too heated for where they were. “Seeing you worry about our boys makes me love you all the more.”

Draco grinned at those words. Harry looked around, and finding no one, pulled Draco into the first office they came across – neither knowing nor caring whose it was. Their kisses very quickly turned into a rapid affirmation that they not only loved each other, but still _lusted_ after each other very much.

Draco bent Harry over the immaculate desk and did his best to pound into Harry so energetically that the desk noisily scooted across the room. Near the end, Harry relocated one hand from where it was braced against the desk to his shaft, giving it a few good tugs. He then painted the floor with a couple of long stripes while Draco ground into him ever faster, roaring softly in triumph when his climax hit him. When they were done, they panted heavily and gave serious thought to just going home and going to bed.

“Do you suppose we should check up on the boys?”

“ _Draco..._ ”

 


	12. December 12th 2009

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Harry decides on the perfect gift for his boys, only Draco objects.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> December 12th is my younger son Phoenix' birthday - he's now 11. It's also the first year that we were able to afford to throw him a birthday party, which he loved, so it's happy for us all around :-D
> 
> Although, my computer (which I *just* bought for my birthday in october) is SO SLOW that it takes me at least a half an hour each night to make this post - hence me being a little bit growly when I sit down to post, lol.

December 12 th  2009 – Saturday

 

Harry was positively giddy! He felt like he was about five years old and locked in a candy store. The Magical Menagerie was packed with so many animals – in anticipation of the upcoming holiday rush – that it appeared to have used quite a few extension charms to make them all fit with a decent amount of space.

Harry spent a good five minutes staring at a scruffy and adorable black fox that reminded him a _lot_ of a miniature Snuffles – that is to say, Sirius. This made Harry reminisce about the few good times with his godfather – such as that one Christmas where they were all together in Grimmauld Place. After a while, Harry decided that having a permanent visual reminder of someone he still missed so very much was probably _not_ the best idea. With a tiny wave to say goodbye to the fox, Harry moved on.

There was a little bit of everything in the shop. Except for owls, which were all over in Eeylops. Which was fine because he didn't want a new owl just yet anyway. Draco could easily borrow one from the Manor if necessary. In any case, he was finding it surprisingly hard to choose between all the adorable baby animals.

Harry had decided rather impulsively that getting the boys a pet for Christmas – well, an _early_ Christmas present – was a _fabulous_ idea! He'd always wanted a dog of his own when growing up. Something small that could have fit in his cupboard with him...

Such as that pug!

It was all black and quite possibly the cutest thing in all of creation. Harry grinned and magicked the cage temporarily intangible so that he could stick his hand in and pull out the puppy, despite not having permission to do so. She promptly started licking his fingers and hand as he stroked her back. Then, when he held her to his face to rub noses, she licked his nose and cheeks and even tried to get a taste of his left eye.

Chuckling, Harry decided that she was definitely the one. So, he carried her over to the counter in order to buy her. She licked his cheek the entire time.

“Mr. Potter!” The wizard behind the counter exclaimed in surprise, clearly relishing the opportunity to speak to Harry.

“Malfoy-Potter,” Harry corrected habitually as he held up the pug. “I'd like to buy this adorable baby girl.”

“Certainly Mr. – Wait! This is one of the few non-magical animals we have in here. Surely you can find something more fitting for the most famous wizard of our time.”

Harry narrowed his eyes in distaste at that. “I don't want a magical animal – I have twin imps, thank you very much. I _want_ this adorable baby girl.”

With an expression that suggested Harry had just lost his mind, the clerk shrugged and made the sale. He then summoned the papers declaring the pug to be of good and pure breeding (Harry figured Draco would just love that), and that she was born to parents who were both champions in the muggle national dog show. However, she had been inspected for star quality and found just a bit lacking, which was why she was in a shop rather than being raised to be a show dog herself.

Harry didn't really care about any of that, so he took the papers and brought his new puppy home. She took the Apparation well enough, only yelping and snuggling into his arms. He gave her a couple of kisses before looking around the room he'd arrived in – his bedroom, which was currently empty.

Grinning, Harry made his way towards the loud sounds of playing that he could hear coming from... the drawing room, he was fairly sure. Yep, there they were!

“Draco look what I bought the boys, er, what's that?” Harry frowned when he realized that the boys were playing with a tiny ball of bluish gray fur.

“A Russian Blue cat – my grandmother breeds them... what's _that_?” Draco asked with a glare as he looked up and noticed the puppy in Harry's hands.

“A pug, I just bought her,” Harry replied as he gave the puppy an adoring look and rubbed noses with her.

“Oh no! We are _not_ having a dog in the house!” Draco vetoed with a firm expression as he crossed his arms over his chest.

“But you can have a cat?” Harry asked in protest.

“Naturally! As I was saying, she has excellent breeding.”

“She has excellent breeding too, and I have papers to prove it!”

“Doesn't matter, I brought mine home first, so _yours_ has to go!”

“Does not! She mine and I'm keeping her!”

“I thought you said you bought her for the boys! And you can clearly see that they are happy with my cat, so take her back!”

The pug wiggled enough that Harry set her down on a plush chair before she could make him drop her. “No! You take your cat back! Since your grandmother bred her, she has a home whereas _my pug_ was bought from a shop and needs a home!”

“Someone else's home!”

“I'm keeping her, Draco!”

“You most certainly are not!”

“You are not the boss! I can do as I like!”

“Not if you _ever_ want me to join you in bed again!”

“How can you even dare threaten that?! You're hornier than I am!”

“That's besides the point, Harry! The point is that I am keeping my cat and you are returning that mutt to the store!”

“SHE'S NOT A MUTT!”

“SHE IS!”

Insistent tugging on their trouser legs made them both pause the argument in order to pick up their sons.

“What's the matter, love? Hungry?” Harry asked as he bounced his son soothingly.

“Shouldn't be, they just ate,” Draco informed him.

Sure enough, both boys yawned and rubbed their eyes.

“Looks like they want a nap,” Draco murmured, happy about this. They'd been running him ragged for _hours_.

With a nod of agreement, Harry rocked Scorpius to sleep as Draco did the same to Albus. After carrying them off to bed and setting them down, it occurred to both men that they had just left two animals on their own in a new place. Not to mention the fact that one was a cat and the other a dog. This could go so badly!

They rushed to see if they had to break up a nasty fight and give medical attention to –

Both stopped short just inside the drawing room. Rather than fight as expected, the puppy and kitten – who were close to the same size – were curled up around each other and sleeping. Apparently, they were best friends already.

Harry and Draco exchanged a look, neither knowing quite what to do.

“ _Fine_...” Draco sighed in capitulation.

Grinning, Harry pulled him close for a sweet and tender kiss. “Have I ever mentioned that I love you?”

Draco smirked. “Perhaps once or twice, but I could stand to hear it some more.”

Harry kissed him again. “I love you.”

“I love you too, mutt.”

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Pugs rule! ^_^


	13. December 13th 2010

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Harry bakes as he talks about his day with Draco.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Long day, oi, lol :-)

December 13 th  2010 – Monday

 

Harry punched the dough he was kneading. “It was maddening!” He roared in frustration and aggravation. “It seems like every criminal in the United Kingdom – and possibly all of Europe! – was hauled in for something or other today! I was kept hopping and didn't even have a second to go to the loo until I nearly pissed my pants!”

“Well, that certainly explains why you had to work so late tonight,” Draco murmured as he rocked their two month old daughter, Lily, to sleep. He pressed his lips together and kept silent about the fact that Harry wouldn't be having this problem if he'd stayed home longer for parental leave after having Lily, but Harry felt that six weeks was quite enough and that he'd go stir crazy if he stayed home any longer.

“And worse!” Harry continued as he rolled out the dough to make up a dozen or so mincemeat pies. “I _still_ can't track down the wizard responsible for –” He cut himself short with a glance at Lily.

“She's asleep and too young to understand what you're talking about anyway,” Draco pointed out.

“I know,” Harry said with a weary sigh. He finished magicking filling onto all of the newly prepared mini pie pans lined with crust, then he magicked the circles of crust onto the top of the mini pie pans, using his fingers to pinch them all shut. “I just can't stand the fact that I even have to talk about it around her – I mean that it _happened_ for me to talk about.”

“That case where the muggle girl was abducted and raped for a few weeks before being thrown out onto a frigid street in the middle of the night?” Draco inquired with a sympathetic frown.

“Yes! How can anyone _do_ something like that?!” Harry roared in frustration.

“How do you know the culprit is a wizard?” Draco wondered.

“The muggle police can't explain how the girl was taken from a locked home that was protected by a state of the art security system including cameras and alarms on all the windows and doors. We're nearly certain it was done using a combination of Disillusionment and Apparation, thus, wizard.”

“Oh Harry...” Draco murmured in sympathy, snuggling their daughter because he just couldn't _not_ snuggle her at the moment.

Harry tossed the mincemeat pies in the oven and began throwing together a batter for chocolate chip biscuits. “I just thank my lucky stars that she was found before she died. She was brought to St. Mungo's and healed up good as new. They even Obliviated her of the worst memories – after we got a chance to take her statement and have a Legilimens go in and extract a few of the memories with the clearest look at the wizard – it's no one we know and we think he may have been using Polyjuice to avoid being identified. Anyway, the girl is better, but despite not being able to remember what happened, she is still much more quiet and withdrawn than she used to be. Her parents say that she's like an entirely different girl, and my heart breaks whenever I think about it.”

Draco stood up and walked over to Harry to give him a lingering kiss. “You'll find the son of a troll soon enough, and then he'll be sentenced to Azkaban for the rest of his life.”

“I certainly hope so,” Harry murmured, accepting another kiss from his husband. Strangely, just having Draco with him made him feel so much better. He rested his head on Draco's chest. “I sincerely fucking hope so.”

“You will,” Draco assured him firmly before giving him another kiss.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If you're like WTF, he wasn't even pregnant and suddenly they have a baby, it's because Harry got pregnant right after the last chapter and had the baby two months before this one. I promise I didn't accelerate her growth magically, lol :-)


	14. December 14th 2011

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Harry just wants a nice lie in, is that too much to ask?

December 14 th  2011 – Wednesday

 

Harry groaned. It was a rare day off and all he wanted was a nice lie in. But _no_...

The boys, who had recently turned four, had moaned and climbed into bed with them during the night. Both claimed to feel sick, but neither'd had a fever, so Draco decided that they'd probably had nightmares and the best thing would be to just let the boys sleep in their (slightly enlarged to make room) bed. Harry capitulated in an effort to get back to sleep as soon as possible, only he'd been continually kicked in the back by one or both of them, making it impossible to stay asleep for longer than a few minutes at a time.

He rolled so that he was on his back, and thus it was not available to be kicked, only now it was his side that was the frequent target. He growled again. Zoë – the pug – was sleeping on his pillow just above his head and lightly kicked him every now and again too. Which he strangely didn't mind. He even sort of liked her raucous snoring. It was when she _farted_ that he sincerely wondered why he had ever thought having a dog was a good idea.

Meanwhile, Astrid – the Russian Blue – was sleeping on his chest. He honestly had _no idea_ why the cat like to use him as her personal bed, but she always did, despite clearly preferring Draco's company at all other times. Inexplicably, her soft breathing usually helped him to get to sleep and soothed him when he had nightmares. Plus, she felt like a cloud when he stroked long lines down her back, and this comforted him.

Just not right now. Sigh...

Tempted to groan in frustration, Harry wondered if he should just cast a sleeping hex on himself, or maybe summon a dreamless sleep potion. _Anything_ to catch up on his rest!

Off to the side of their bed, Lily – at a year old – was sitting up in her crib, babbling and singing softly to herself as she played with her favorite stuffed animals. Harry often wondered if she was pretending that they were alive and talking to each other, or if she considered them something like imaginary friends. After all, she was too young to explain what she was thinking even if she understood his question. Which he didn't think she would.

Lily made a particularly cheerful sound, making Harry smile that at least _one_ of them was in a good mood. Even Draco had sounded cranky each time the boys woke him up and fussed for a few minutes. Not to mention when he'd gotten up to feed and change Lily during the middle of the night. Harry was willing to bet that Draco would give just about anything for a nice lie in too.

Very unexpectedly, Lily erupted in projectile vomiting that flew all the way across the bed, covering them all in blech – which was inexplicably a pastel pink. Astrid leapt off Harry in outrage. Zoë yelped in surprise before jumping off the bed and racing away. The boys promptly began to wail, trying to wipe the mess off their faces, only to get it all over their hair instead. Draco groaned and sighed as if he was sincerely considering just ignoring everything and letting Harry deal with it all. He also cast a vanishing spell to clean himself before doing anything else.

Harry wondered if he could pretend to be so soundly asleep that Draco'd have no choice but to deal with this mess. _Merlin's rotund beer belly!_ Didn't he _deserve_ some quality sleep?

Before he could decide what to do, Albus and Scorpius groaned. One buried his face on Harry's stomach and moaned: “Daddy...” while the other did the same to Draco. Abruptly, they both added to the disgusting mess on the bed. Only this time, it was yellowish green.

Harry sighed in profound defeat. “I guess there'll be no sleeping now.”

Draco glared at the clock on the wall. “Salazar's buggering arse! It's still an hour before we normally get up!”

“I don't suppose you have any potions for this?” Harry asked.

Draco turned his glare on Harry. “ _Of course_ I have potions for this! Just wait here while I – for the love of Merlin's flatulent sphincter!” He blurted out in dismay after slipping from the bed. “Why the fuck is _your bloody dog_ rolling around in a pool of sick?”

“Hey! _Your cat_ has left a trail of it out into the hallway!” Harry pointed out, from what he could see.

“Kreacher!” Draco roared before grumbling unhappily and summoning the required potions.

Lily, still as cheerful as ever, launched another volley across the room, covering mainly Draco. He glared at Harry again.

“I don't know how, but this is definitely _all your fault_!”

Harry rolled his eyes. “ _I'm_ not the one who fed them cake before bed.”

“A cake _you_ made!”

This argument continued on for some time as Kreacher cleaned up the mess and Draco administered the potions. Thankfully, after things had calmed down again, the boys fell back asleep. At least this way, even if they had to be awake, they'd have a bit of quiet. Aside from Lily's babyish singing.

Sighing in defeat, Harry stumbled out of bed. “May as well make some tea and start on breakfast.”

“You do that,” Draco stated grumpily. “And if you see your sodding dog, give her a hex from me.”

Harry gave him a flat look but said nothing as he left the room. This was going to be a _long_ day. He should probably just go to work after all. Just after he thought this, his stomach churned violently, prompting him to bend over and make a mess of his own on the stairs.

“DAMN IT!” He roared, hoping that Draco's potion – once administered – would have him feeling better in no time.

“Oh dear!” Draco exclaimed in sympathy as he rushed to rub Harry's back. “Looks like you're sick too.”

“Buggering winter!” Harry grumbled, feeling justified in his petulance.

“Come on, let's get you back in bed,” Draco insisted, guiding Harry back toward their room. Grumbling, Harry didn't have it in him to argue.

Hours later, Draco was in a much better mood. He smirked at Harry. “At least now I have a valid excuse to get rid of these _horrible_ pajamas that you insisted we wear. They were covered in sick.” He gestured to the dark red pajamas he wore that resembled a very tacky suit. It had a pattern of green trees on it with a matching tie. Then he gestured to the pajamas Harry was wearing, which were the same style but a brighter red with various Christmas icons on them. Draco was exaggerating a bit since normally, they _both_ slept naked, but on occasion, Harry wanted to wear something festive to celebrate impending Christmas.

Harry gave him another flat look. He _refused_ to admit that the pajamas might possibly be a bad or tacky idea. “Don't you dare! I _love_ these! And besides, I wear the clothes you buy me.”

“At times,” Draco admitted with a shrug. He handed Harry a mug of tea and gave him a soft kiss. “Drink up and then rest while you still can.”

With a nod, Harry did.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter is based on real life events from when my sister was 1-2 and I was 4 or 5, lol. She was lying on the couch, using our dog as a pillow, singing away in baby language, and it really was pink. Our dog ran around the entire house. Our mom was *not* amused, lol.


	15. December 15th 2012

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Harry and Draco attend a party thrown by Pansy and Blaise.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> After taking a few days break from crocheting to do real life things, I'm finally back at it and on row 52 out of 58 of the table cloth I'm making for my grandma, phew!

December 15 th  2012 – Saturday

 

Harry returned from dropping the boys and Lily off at the Burrow to find Draco naked and taking a nice romantic bath in their enormous en suite tub. The bathroom was lit only by dozens of candles, and there was a bottle of Harry's favorite moscato chilling on the edge of the tub.

“What's all this?” Harry asked with a raised brow, definitely interested.

“A minor celebration of the fact that we will be kid free until tomorrow night,” Draco informed him.

“Yeah? Sounds brilliant,” Harry murmured with a lusty grin. He quickly stripped off and hopped in the tub. They spent a long time simply fondling and caressing each other, but then found themselves so worked up that Harry felt he had no choice but to cast a lubrication spell on himself and ride Draco's gloriously long and thin shaft. When they were done, and relatively clean (all considering), they reluctantly left the soothing warmth of the tub and got dressed.

“Are you _sure_ this is what we're supposed to wear?” Harry asked in mild embarrassment as he surveyed his costume in the mirror.

“Quite,” Draco stated with a confident smirk. “The muggles are dead certain that the world is going to end in less than two weeks –”

“What if they're right?” Harry asked, not truly believing it himself, just... wondering.

“Unless the planet explodes, we wizards can cope with just about anything,” Draco assured him. “We'll survive just fine. Besides, I've strengthened all the wards on the house just in case. No matter if we're buried under a glacier or a metric ton of lava, we'll be just fine until everything is settled and we can assess the damage and come up with a plan.”

“Good to know,” Harry replied with a loving grin and a kiss. “But...” He glanced at their costumes. They resembled short, off-white togas just a little bit, but other than that, Harry couldn't really describe them.

“These are supposedly what the Mayans wore, and _they're_ the ancient muggle civilization that predicted this possible catastrophe. _So,_ naturally, if the world is going to end, we all want to party as much as possible first,” Draco reminded him. And despite what it might sound like, he was strangely _not_ being sarcastic.

“Yeah, I suppose,” Harry agreed with a shrug.

“And Pansy thought it would be brilliant to have a themed costume party,” Draco finished explaining.

“Yeah, but these costumes seem a bit... scanty...” Harry said with a frown.

Draco grinned at him. “If you're that worried about it, don't be. Chances are excellent that we won't be wearing them very long anyway.”

Harry raised a brow at that. “Just what sort of party is this anyway?”

“One that will be debauched in all the best ways,” Draco replied with a grin.

“Oh boy!” Harry muttered nervously. They had talked about this possibility before, Harry just didn't think Draco was being serious about it until now. “Well... I suppose we should get going, before we're late.”

With a nod of agreement, Draco took Harry's hand and Apparated them to Blaise and Pansy's modest but well decorated mansion. The couple was on hand to greet them. Pansy and Blaise both kissed Draco outright – which Harry was used to and didn't feel jealous about. Then they each gave Harry a kiss on the cheek. Harry, decided that since he was apparently at a sex party, he could be just a little friendlier after all the years he'd been married to their best friend. He smiled and gave them each a quick smooch in return.

Pansy grinned like a cat who had just gotten into the cream. “So lovely to see you again, darling! I'm beyond delighted that you could make it to our little party!”

Blaise laughed and grinned too. “Pans has plans to see the two of you shagging dirty rotten!”

“And not necessarily with each other,” Pansy added, looking almost maniacal with anticipation.

Harry gave Draco a concerned look. Draco rolled his eyes.

“Don't worry so much. No one is going to force you to do anything you don't want.”

“Oh...” Harry murmured before looking to the ceiling and wondering exactly what he _would_ consent to when given the opportunity. He and Draco had talked about potentially playing around over the years – it had taken a long time for them both to come to the acceptance that they actually did want to at least try playing around a little bit – but this was the first time possibilities could become actualities. The prospect was strangely exciting.

However, Harry felt he was going to need a _lot_ of alcohol in order to relax and forget that most of the people here were going to want to shag him in one way or another simply because he was the Savior. That was one of the many things he'd always loved about Draco, the Savior thing was never important to him.

About an hour later, Harry was (as Draco had predicted) completely naked and snogging a witch he couldn't recall meeting before. Hands were roaming and body parts were rising to the occasion. Harry was more than a little drunk, but sober enough to consent to things like this. Even so, he felt a moment of concern that Draco wasn't sitting right next to him.

He looked around and spotted Draco watching him from across the room with a strange grin. It was hard to describe, but Draco looked genuinely happy to see Harry having fun. Even though it was with someone else. This sort of confused Harry for a moment, until he remembered that Draco had told him about this phenomenon a while back. It even had a word: compersion. Which meant actually and genuinely being happy to see someone you love enjoying themselves and having fun.

Harry smiled at Draco. Then he got up and walked over to kiss his husband. “I feel bad playing if you're not.”

Draco smiled at him. “Oh, I was going to, I was just waiting to watch the show first.” He downed the rest of the wine in his glass. “But I just had a _brilliant_ idea!”

“Oh?” Harry asked with interest.

“We should dance!” Draco exclaimed, pointing out that one of Harry's favorite songs had just come on.

Grinning, Harry nodded in agreement. They each grabbed another glass of something strong to drink as they danced. At the end of the dance, Pansy came around and insisted that they both take a shotglass because she was going to make a toast.

“To friends, fun, and copious amounts of sex!”

With a cheer, everyone took their shot. And then Blaise passed out more shots to chase and cool the first ones – which were like drinking liquid fire and provoked much coughing.

A little while later, Harry and Draco were sitting next to each other, giggling about something neither could actually remember, and snogging whoever happened to be sitting next to them. Actually, a lot of people – practically every witch and wizard there – took a moment to come over and claim a kiss and some groping from Harry at one point or another. When Harry realized that he was probably drunker than he'd ever been in his life, he sprawled across Draco's lap – on his back – and stroked Draco's cheek and hair as he laughed.

“This party's better than I thought it'd be!”

“Yeah?” Draco asked with a flirty grin. He was also downright pissed and in high spirits. Aside from kissing and a _lot_ of rather graphic groping, neither had gotten around to playing yet, simply because they kept getting distracted by watching each other have fun. To Harry's surprise, compersion was a real and powerful thing.

Harry pulled Draco down for a kiss. “Godric's bloated prick! I just love you so much!”

Draco returned Harry's kiss. “I love you too. Let's go shag before my bollocks explode!”

Harry positively _loved_ the sound of that. He didn't even notice his magic kick in and Apparate them to their bedroom – directly onto their bed – until the lack of noise made him look around. Draco looked around too, and then grinned as he summoned two vials of potion.

“This will make everything even better,” he promised.

“Yeah?” Harry asked curiously.

“Drink,” Draco insisted, so Harry did, which prompted Draco to down his vial as well.

After that, Draco spent ages licking every part of Harry's body, taking the time to work him open manually – as opposed to with quick spells like they almost always needed these days, out of sheer necessity since their kids could and often did interrupt them at the drop of a hat. Harry moaned, arching his back into Draco, not even protesting the blindfold and Slytherin ties binding him to the headboard.

After Harry cried out from an earth shattering orgasm, Draco pounded him to a glorious second one. They lay panting and recovering for a while, but strangely, the level of alcohol in their system had them in that stage where they weren't drunk enough to pass out and were still euphoric and horny. So, Harry decided to pay Draco back by tying him up and giving him a good spanking – taking the time to make those normally pale arse cheeks really glow.

Draco moaned and squirmed, loving every moment of it. By the time Harry was ready to ram him into the bed, Draco was begging to be buggered good and hard and in every way that Harry could think of. It was sheer bliss!

To their surprise, they had the stamina to last until they passed out from sheer exhaustion. (Although, Draco _did_ brew a quality potion, so they probably shouldn't have been surprised.) In the morning, Draco woke with a gasp of pain and pressed a hand to his forehead. He pulled free from Harry's thoroughly possessive grasp and rolled over to squint at his bed side table in a search for the hangover potions.

“What the...?” He muttered in confusion. “I thought we took those last night...”

“W'a's matter?” Harry grumbled, still more asleep than not.

“I have the hangover potions _and_ the stamina potions still here, so what the hell did we take last night?” Draco asked with a puzzled frown.

“Th'poshuns y'asked m'ter put'way,” Harry mumbled with a shrug.

“The potions I... WHAT?!” Draco gasped in alarm, sitting up and promptly cursing himself for moving before taking the hangover potion. He grabbed the correct vial and downed it, sighing in relief when it kicked in. He then covered his mouth and did his best not to devolve into a cross between panic and mindless freaking out.

“W'a's matter?” Harry asked again, shifting to squint at Draco in concern.

“Harry... the only potions I asked you to put away for me recently were...” He gulped and took a deep breath to stop from hyperventilating. “Fertility potions... Which I _told_ you to put in my little cabinet!”

“So...?” Harry asked, too groggy to process or care about that statement.

“So that means you just knocked me up, you complete arse!” Draco roared, hitting Harry over the head with a pillow several times. “Salazar damn it! We agreed that _you'd_ carry all those babies you want!”

Harry sat up to fend off the surprisingly lethal pillow attack and grab a hangover potion of his own. He pulled Draco into his arms and held him tight so that there couldn't be any more attacks – although he wouldn't put it past his prickly Slytherin to punch him in the nose with a fist.

“If I'm understanding you, we _both_ took fertility potions?”

“YES, YOU DAMN WANKER! YOU COMPLETE TOSSER! YOU UTTER SHIT!”

Harry stroked Draco's hair soothingly. “Aww cuddlecat, it's not so bad, you'll see.”

Draco actually did try to punch Harry for that, but Harry blocked it and held Draco in a tight hug until he stopped struggling and shouting obscenities. Eventually, Draco exhaled out all of his aggravation and rested his head on Harry's shoulder.

“The moment we are both free from these parasites inside us, I'm hexing you so hard that you'll have to go to St. Mungo's for a month,” Draco warned him in all seriousness.

“Good to know,” Harry stated before kissing his husband rather thoroughly, despite the general foul taste in their mouths.

Draco pushed him away. “Go brush your teeth! And then make breakfast! I'm going to need a bracing cup of tea as well.”

“Yes love,” Harry accepted with an impertinent grin, stealing another kiss before slipping out of bed.

Grumpily, Draco rolled over and attempted to sleep off the last bit of his hangover.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I love the idea of Harry and Draco drunk on a couch, giggling, ^_^


	16. December 16th 2013

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Harry's been off on a mission for a long time and Draco is very worried.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Please note that this chapter contains angst and that none of the threats Draco makes are genuine. This would be a *very* dark chapter if they were, but no, they're simply an expression of worry and frustration :-)

December 16 th  2013 – Monday

 

Draco was in a furious snit. It was all he could do to hold back the obscenities. How _dare_ Harry be gone on such a dangerous mission so soon after having a baby?! It'd been nearly a week since Draco'd had any word. For all he knew, Harry could be dead in a ditch somewhere!

Draco was doing his best to keep a brave face for his kids, but he was positively _seething_ ! The Head Auror wouldn't give him a straight answer, only deigning to say that he was fairly certain Harry wasn't dead. Except that didn't reassure Draco at all; if Harry was alive, _why_ didn't he send a Patronus or something to let Draco know he was okay?

Eventually, it was time for Albus, Scorpius, and Lily to go to bed, which just left three month old James and Narcissa. Draco'd had a _rough_ pregnancy and had to deliver a few weeks early to ensure that baby Narcissa remained healthy. Since James was fully formed and healthy at that point as well, Harry elected to have him delivered at the same time so that they'd be twins rather than have their birthdays a few weeks apart – which would have actually put James' birthday fairly close to Lily's, so it just worked out better this way.

In any case, Draco had insisted that Harry take several months of parental leave, only Harry had been called in to consult on this case, and was now nowhere to be found. Draco checked to make sure that his babies were happily enjoying the side to side swinging motion of their magical cradle swings, and finding that they were, resumed his fretful pacing.

 _I'm going to murder him!_ Draco vowed quite sincerely. _Tear him to shreds! And then feed him to that daft mutt of his! How *dare* he leave me to parent these hooligans all by myself?!?! Doesn't he understand that five children can be quite the pain in the arse??? If he ever dares suggest we even *think* about having another, I'm going to cast Sectumsempra on him and then cut it off!_

Draco growled and contemplated throwing a pricey crystal vase, except for he was dead certain that would just wake up his older kids, and then he'd be even _more_ upset. But Salazar damn it! Why won't Harry just give him a sign or something?!

_I'm going to Avada Kedavra him, transfigure his body into a stick, and then bury it out in the backyard with a sign that reads: here lies the twig that didn't live._

He paced over to check on the babies, who looked like they might be drifting off, and then practically chewed on his thumbnail as he continued his circuit around the room.

_I'll slit his throat, dress him in nothing but frilly knickers, and then dump him in the middle of Knockturn Ally so everyone'll think he was caught by that psychotic killer he's currently hunting down – and if that deranged madman *dares* harm so much as a hair on Harry's head, there will be nowhere in the vast universe that he can hide where I will not find him and do things to him that would make the Dark Lord flinch!_

“Damn it Harry! Fucking firecall or send an owl or something!!!” Draco roared rather abruptly, making his babies fuss unhappily until he fed them before singing and pacing back and forth with them in an effort to have them settle back down. Thankfully, they fell asleep about a half an hour later.

By this point, Draco was mostly calm again because he had to be in order to not alarm his babies. He set them down in their crib and vowed to go make himself a cup of tea. He'd be kicking himself for it later, but he just knew he wouldn't be able to sleep until he heard word from Harry.

_If Harry doesn't send word soon, I'm going to murder him, hex the body until there's nothing left to find, and then berate him for being inconsiderate!_

Suddenly, Harry Apparated right in front of him and threw his arms around Draco to hold him tight. Holding back a sob of relief, Draco silently held his husband, rubbing his back and kissing his shoulder repeatedly without even realizing it. Kreacher took one look at them and prudently made that tea Draco had forgotten all about.

“Fuck I missed you!” Harry blurted out when he felt a bit calmer.

“I missed you so much I could barely breathe!” Draco informed him. They kissed until they both felt reassured that the other still existed and was relatively unharmed.

Speaking of harm, Draco noticed a hasty and badly wrapped bandage on Harry's left arm, just above the Gryffin tattoo. This alarmed Draco, making him tear off the bandage to tend to the wound. As he did, he glared and growled at Harry.

“Why didn't you have a Mediwitch see to this?!”

“I didn't want to wait a moment longer and I knew they take as long as they possibly could and make a fuss. I just wanted to come home to you, and besides, it's not serious.”

Since it was just a gash, he was probably right, but Draco glowered at him anyway. “Why take chances?”

“I needed you, alright?” Harry grumbled, resting his head on Draco's shoulder. Nodding in silent acceptance, Draco healed the gash before vanishing Harry's torn shirt to look for more wounds. To his relief, not a scratch marred his beautiful body – well, aside from his scars he'd gotten in the war and the large tattoo of a Phoenix he'd gotten on his right side a couple years ago.

“I know you like to think you can't be killed – just like a Phoenix – but you're not actually immortal,” Draco reminded him, kissing Harry's tattoo before moving on to lick circles around his nipples.

“I know...” Harry murmured softly, his breath catching just a little at Draco's actions.

Draco dropped to his knees to remove Harry's trousers and inspect the lower half of his body for injuries. Finding none, he flicked his tongue over the head of Harry's shaft, which was rapidly swelling with interest. “You were gone _forever_!”

Harry chuckled, finding Draco's concern adorable. “Only a week.”

“That's what I said,” Draco grumbled. He then buried Harry's shaft in his mouth and gave it a good suck.

Harry groaned in pleasure. At the same time, Kreacher rolled his eyes and growled in dis-appreciation. He put a stasis charm on their tea, and busied himself with assembling a light snack while they were occupied.

Harry tangled his fingers in Draco's hair and leaned against the counter so that he didn't fall with his knees going weak like that. It didn't take him long at all to pump that hot and lush mouth full. He sighed happily, slumping on the counter.

Draco stood up and gave him a kiss. “I'm glad you're home, but understand this, if you are _ever_ gone that long again, _someone will pay_...”

“ _Draco_...” Harry warned softly.

Draco glared at him. “I don't care if I have to hex the Head Auror or the Minister for Magic himself!”

“Draco...” Harry sighed in defeat, knowing that his husband was utterly serious.

“ _Never._ Be gone. That long. Again.”

Harry sighed again and gave him a reassuring kiss. “I'll try my best.”

“Good.”

Taking their tea and snacks, they went all the way over to their favorite couch so that they could snuggle and get a bite to eat at the same time. Harry was utterly grateful for moments like these that helped him get over the stress of his job. Thankfully, it wasn't _all_ murdering bastards who tried to kill him to avoid capture. Good thing Harry was so brilliant at his job. He kissed Draco as if rewarding him – which he was, simply for being there.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Let's all give Harry a big hug :-)


	17. December 17th 2014

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Harry, Draco, and their kids visit their families for the holidays.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The other day, I found out that unplanned pregnancy can be a big trigger for some readers, and I honestly had no idea that this was a trigger. I'd written the entire story before ever posting the first chapter, so I know how it's going to end, and so even though it might be a good idea to avoid using the same cracky plot device twice - especially since it offended people - I decided not to change a thing because it would affect the rest of the story in big ways. Thus, warning, this chapter contains another unplanned pregnancy. Sort of...

December 17 th  2014 – Wednesday

 

Draco held out his cup for one of the Manor elves to refill. They were having a family tea with his parents. In front of each of them was a three tiered platter that had a bowl of warm soup and a plate of sandwiches on the bottom, and various tarts, puddings, cheesecakes, and strawberries on the second and third tier. The kids were all positively delighted by this bounty and were not so subtly ignoring the soup and sandwiches.

After they all finished eating and making small talk – which was still just a bit awkward and snarky between Harry and Lucius – the family said their goodbyes and went home for a few hours to digest before they were due at the Burrow. Draco had long since accepted that visits to the Burrow – though noisy and chaotic – were for the best as they gave the kids an excellent way to work off all the treats they'd just eaten. Not to mention the ones they'd eat while at the Burrow.

After Molly passed out hugs and kisses to all of them, their kids all joined in with the rest of the rambunctious brats – er, little angels. Draco looked around in mild horror. He'd _swear_ there were nearly a hundred kids running amok!

Charlie and his husband were on their second. Percy had thankfully stopped at two, but Fleur appeared to be pregnant with Bill's fifth. George and Angelina were busy cooing at their newest – their third? Fourth? Draco wasn't sure. And then Ron and Hermione announced that after so many years of being oh so careful, they'd had an accident and were now expecting their third. Even Ginny had at least three – which brought the total closer to 20 than 100, but still!

“If I _never_ see another infant again, it'll be too soon!” Draco grumbled under his breath as he was passed George's baby to hold for a few minutes while Angelina went to the loo and George filled plates for their others. Draco held the baby with a wry expression. “At least you're cuter than your dad.”

Harry chuckled and gave him a kiss even as he vanished a chocolate biscuit that Zoë was trying to gulp down before anyone noticed. The pug harrumphed and snuck under the coffee table to lie in wait for the next treat to be dropped.

When it was finally time for them to go home, Draco broke one of his own very strict rules – to _never_ use magic to force their kids to go to sleep. He cast sleeping hexes on all of them, putting them to bed and sighing in relief as he rubbed one of his aching feet on the other.

“Harry! Where did you put that bottle of wine that Pansy and Blaise sent us for Christmas?”

“I put it on the wine rack. Didn't I?” Harry replied with a puzzled frown.

Draco checked, and sure enough, it was there. “Excellent! We haven't had anything this good since the last time I popped over to France to stock up!”

They drank the wine and sat staring meditatively into the fire for a while until they felt relaxed, more than a little tipsy, and in an amorous mood. Harry pulled Draco into his lap for a heated kiss.

“Godric and Dumbledore! I still love you so much that it takes my breath away!”

Draco smirked smugly at that. “I'm glad to hear that. And I love you just as much, if not more.” He returned Harry's kiss, grinding their laps together. The wine had put him in an excellent mood. So unexpectedly that Harry lurched after him, Draco leapt to his feet and yanked on Harry's hand in excitement. “Come on! Let's go to bed!”

“What wrong with right here?” Harry wondered, not wanting to wait even a moment longer than necessary.

“Bed! Now!” Draco commanded, dragging Harry after him. The moment they were in their room, Draco sorted through his potions cabinet and downed a vial of green liquid. Then he attacked Harry, stripping him off and devouring every inch of bared skin.

Harry chuckled as he returned the loving attention. “Need a lust potion?”

Draco scoffed. “Why would I ever need that?”

“Stamina potion?” Harry wondered, liking the idea.

“Nope,” Draco denied mysteriously. He purposely fell backward onto the bed, pulling Harry on top of him. “Inside me! _Now_!”

“Alright alright, no need to fret,” Harry murmured as he oiled up his shaft and pushed into Draco. “Want it rough? Was that a pain potion?”

“I'm not adverse to rough,” Draco informed him with a smirk. “And no. It was a fertility potion.”

Harry felt his blood run cold rather abruptly. “ _What_???”

“Shut up, Harry, and get me pregnant!”

“What?! But! No! You damn near murdered me when that happened before!”

Draco rolled them over and took the matter into his own hands by riding Harry, who groaned from the pleasure of the demanding pace.

“But you don't even _want_ more kids!” Harry reminded him.

“I can't help but picture all the unique ways that our kids could look like a combination of the two of us. We make some pretty adorable babies, Harry.”

“Well, yes, we do, but are you _sure_ about this?” Harry asked, still alarmed by the prospect of Draco murdering him once the deed was done. That said, he wasn't exactly sober enough to resist how good it felt to have Draco riding him like a champion stallion in a horse race.

“Indubitably.”

Harry gave in with a groan and rolled Draco back under him so that he could pound him into the bed. They reached a glorious climax a fair amount of time later, and then passed out while they were still panting and enjoying the bliss.

In the morning, Draco opened his eyes to glare at Harry. “You fucking bastard! I should strangle you with my bare hands!”

Harry flung his hands out as he was rather abruptly torn from sleep. “I _knew_ you weren't in your right mind! Damnit! This is _not_ my fault!”

“Well it most certainly isn't _my_ fault!”

Harry gave Draco a flat look, who returned it with an impressive glare. They didn't speak to each other for the rest of the day.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Alright, so in the comments of the previous chapter in which Harry and Draco got each other pregnant, I explained that it was a case of Draco's head and heart telling him two different things, but that I couldn't explain that in the chapter. It was *because* I knew that it would become clearer in this chapter. Just in case it wasn't perfectly clear, When Draco got drunk in this chapter, he was able to follow his heart, something that his head got angry about when he sobered back up again. Yes, this is cracky/crazy Draco logic, and yes it can be offensive to some readers, but I intended it to be funny. I apologize if it came across in any other way :-)


	18. December 18th 2015

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Harry comes home from work and spends some quality time with his family.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Fluffy family time ^_^

December 18 th  2015 – Friday

 

Draco hummed softly as he fed Nymphadora. As much as he _hated_ himself for contributing to the global overpopulation problem, he had to admit that holding an infant was a relaxing experience – so long as they weren't crying. And Salazar damn it! He and Harry always made _adorable_ babies! Especially this one, who looked like a cherub with her pudgy cheeks and super soft baby fuzz for hair. He couldn't help but kiss her thousands of times a day.

It was late afternoon and the older kids were busy playing with the younger ones. Albus and Scorpius were eight and still in that stage where pretending that they were having adventures with their younger siblings was fun. Lily was five and already just bossy enough that she tried to be the leader of all those adventures they pretended to have. James and Narcissa were two, and had a little bit of trouble keeping up with their older siblings, but that didn't stop them from trying. All in all, they kept each other busy enough that Draco didn't feel like he had to chase after them and keep them entertained.

Lucky for him that he had magic to fix all the mayhem they caused!

Still humming and now rocking Nymphadora, knowing that she wouldn't take a nap yet but hoping that she would anyway, Draco looked over to where Astrid's latest litter of kittens were busy trying to attack the tinsel on the Christmas tree – which was charmed to be Impervius to all tampering, and so, safe from them. Astrid herself was watching them with a look of a mother resigned to be patient and maybe even a little amused by the antics of her children.

Zoë was snoring as loudly as ever from somewhere under the table. Which just left Bianca – the gorgeous pure white arctic fox that Harry had rescued a few months back during a mission to put a stop to illegal animal breeding. The fox had needed love and care at first, so Harry had brought her home, but for some inexplicable reason, Draco had fallen in love with her. She was now his loyal little imp that liked to stalk and pretend to hunt the kittens (and puppies when Zoë had some). Fortunately for everyone, she never actually tried to hurt them, just pounce on them at random as if proving that she _could_ eat them if she had to.

The clock chimed half four and Harry stepped out of the fireplace. “I'm home!” He called out before spotting Draco sitting in a rocking chair in the corner, basking in the sun that was valiantly trying to stream through a frosted window.

“Welcome home,” Draco murmured with a soft smile.

“Daddy!!!” The kids all cried out gleefully as they rushed over to swamp him under their love. Harry passed out hugs and kisses.

“Are any of you hungry?”

“ _Starving_!” Albus and Scorpius assured him.

“Then let me up so I can go make dinner,” Harry said with a laugh.

“Hooray!” The kids cheered, running off to finish their adventure as they waited.

“Anything in particular you want?” Harry asked as he gave Draco a kiss.

“Whatever's easiest for you, I'm not fussed,” Draco murmured, returning the kiss. This was true only because he knew that Harry never made anything he hated anyway.

“In that case, chicken!” Harry pronounced, rushing off to the kitchen.

“Remind me again why you don't just let Kreacher do all our cooking?” Draco called after him.

“Because I love doing it and you know it!” Harry called back. Besides, Kreacher was usually run ragged just cleaning up after their kids.

It didn't take Harry long at all to pan fry a dozen chicken thighs and a medley of veggies consisting of broccoli, carrots, cauliflower, onions, and “baby” corn. The family ate in a noisy messy rush, the kids all trying to tell Harry what he missed while he was gone – all the games they'd played and the things they'd learned. Narcissa (the toddler) climbed into his lap and gave him a sticky slobbery kiss because she remembered how much she had missed him and needed to give him a hug. Harry returned her kiss and leaned his head against hers as he ate.

After they were finished, they migrated to the drawing room where Harry had long ago installed a muggle telly. The kids all _loved_ to watch the wildlife documentaries – such as their current favorite: David Attenborough's Natural Curiosities. Harry and Draco sat in the middle of the couch while their kids sat on and around them. Zoë arranged herself on the back of the couch, acting a bit like a pillow for Harry when he leaned his head back, which he did frequently as the stress of his week wore off and he nodded off.

“Daddy! Do you see that?” Lily demanded, tugging on Harry's ear to gain his attention.

“Huh?” Harry asked as he abruptly returned to wakefulness.

“Look!” She insisted, literally moving his head to look at the telly.

“Weird,” Harry murmured, making her smile and let him go. Try as he might to pay attention, he was out just a minute later.

“Dad!” Albus cried out, smacking Harry on the arm. “Tell Scorpius to stop poking me!”

“Schtop pokin'” Harry grumbled almost reflexively.

“Tell Albus to stop sticking his tongue out at me!” Scorpius insisted.

“Schtop schtickin'” Harry slurred, still more than half asleep.

All was more or less quiet for a while, and then James climbed up Harry in an attempt to poke Zoë in that spot above her nose where a bunch of skin wrinkled up. She snorted and let out a smelly fart before licking James' finger. James straddled Harry, a knee on each of his shoulders as he pet Zoë and gave her kisses, which eventually led to a lack of air that woke Harry up.

“James, what are you doing?” He asked the boy's bellybutton.

“Pettin' Zoë,” James replied matter of factly.

“Tha's _my_ daddy!” Narcissa insisted now that she had noticed James hogging him. She did her best to yank James down.

“Daddy!” Lily burst out excitedly. “ _Look_ at that! How weird is that?!”

“Super weird, Lils,” Harry said with a yawn, trying to break up the brawl that had erupted on him. “James, Narcissa! Stop trying to push each other! Draco! A little help?”

Draco scoffed. “You well know that I go off duty the moment you get home. Except for Nym...”

“How about _you_ try working and I stay home with the kids all day?” Harry challenged grumpily.

“Done!” Draco exclaimed seriously. “I can make _far_ more money making potions than you make as an Auror, and you know it. I stay home not because I don't want to work, but because you do. If you're ready to trade, I'm not going to argue.”

Harry sighed in defeat, knowing that he was never going to be ready to give up his job. He set James on the floor before setting Narcissa next to him. After that, he grabbed Zoë and set her on James' lap. Zoë made her strange snorting pug noises as she licked James' face and made him giggle incessantly. Narcissa tugged on Zoë's ear and tried to uncurl her twisty little tail until the pug shifted her attention to the little girl.

When bedtime _finally_ came around, Harry was softly snoring. Draco nudged him sharply in the side with an elbow. Harry woke up with a snort.

“Pointy bastard! What'd'ja do that for?”

“It's time for you to put these hooligans to bed,” Draco informed him.

“Hooray!” Harry cheered happily. He ordered them all to bed, levitating anyone who resisted. He put them all to bed and gave them hugs and kisses. Then he escorted them all to the bathroom to go potty and put them all back to bed again, with more hugs and kisses. Then he summoned cups and cast Aguamentis to slake their suddenly dire thirst. Then he kissed them all again and _finally_ managed to slip out of their rooms for good.

He paused for a moment to decide whether it was a good idea or a bad idea to let the mischievous kittens sleep in the kids' rooms, but then decided that they'd probably just sneak back in later if he tried to stop them, so he let them go.

A minute or so later, Harry found Draco sitting at the table, all the various presents they'd bought for their kids strewn on the table with big rolls of wrapping paper off to the side. Nymphadora was happily cooing in her bassinet and ignoring them as she tried to decide if her toes were a toy or some strange creature she'd just found.

“So, how was your day?” Draco asked as he gestured for Harry to sit down and start wrapping his share of the presents.

After sitting, Harry asked Kreacher to bring him a cup of tea. “Busy. I have _no idea_ why I thought being Deputy Head Auror would be easier than being a regular one. I feel like I'm doing not just my job but _everyone's_ ! They all come to me when they need help, and Robards just left for an extended holiday, so I'm doing _his_ job too!”

“So hire an assistant,” Draco suggested with a shrug.

“That could work...” Harry murmured speculatively. Then he smiled at his husband and leaned over to give him a kiss. “And how was your day?”

“Scorpius and Albus watched a science video on your laptop and decided to create a baking soda and vinegar volcano. But not a reasonably sized one that would have been a perfect and entertaining learning experience. No. _They_ had to make an enormous one that dominated the entire study and nearly ruined everything when it erupted.”

“What?!” Harry asked in alarm.

“But don't worry, Kreacher cleaned it all up,” Draco assured him. “Meanwhile, Lily insisted that I watch her put on a concert. She even had Kreacher help her make a couple of costumes. Then James and Narcissa played hide and seek so successfully that I really thought they'd managed to escape the house. It took me almost an hour before I remembered that I could just cast a Point Me spell. One was under an upturned cardboard box in the cupboard under the stairs, and the other was behind some shelves in the attic – although I have _no idea_ how he got up there! And both had fallen asleep, which was why they didn't answer when I called. Thank Merlin and Salazar that Nymphadora is still in that stage where she's content to just watch everything that's going on so long as I wear her in a carrier at all times. Heaven forbid I put her down for a second – even to go to the loo! By all rights, she should be sleeping now, but she clearly isn't. I'm just happy she's let me set her in her bassinet.”

“What did you do with the volcano?” Harry asked with interest.

“I had Kreacher shrink it down and store it in the garage.”

“I'll have to take a look at it this weekend.” With a huge yawn, Harry set aside the last present he had to wrap – once more thanking the Gods that he had magic that made the task fairly quick and easy. “I need to visit the loo.”

Draco accepted a kiss before Harry left the room. Then he looked over at Nymphadora, who was just now starting to look sleepy and rub her eyes. A brilliant idea hit him, making him smirk.

“Kreacher, keep an eye on Nym and take care of her if she starts fussing.”

“Yes Master,” Kreacher replied as he popped into the room.

Draco stood up and stripped off so that he could put a shiny green bow on a “special present” just for Harry. When ready, he crept up the stairs and slipped into their bedroom to find Harry...

Sound asleep and snoring on their bed. Zoë was on his pillow, Astrid was snuggled up to his back – he was on his side facing where Draco slept – and Bianca was using his feet as a pillow. The sight was as adorable as it was familiar.

Sighing in defeat, Draco removed the bow and tossed it onto a chair as he walked toward his bed. He slipped under the covers and gave Harry a tender and lingering kiss – which he responded to even in his sleep. Harry even hummed slightly in his sleep as if he was just so happy that he couldn't stop himself.

“Goodnight, love,” Draco murmured.

“Night. Love you,” Harry slurred.

“I love you too.”

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Poor Draco, lol ^_^


	19. December 19th 2016

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Draco is rather dismayed, and he only has himself to blame.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is the last time, I swear! ;(¬_¬)

December 19 th  2016 – Monday

 

“GODDAMNIT!” Draco roared as he stared at the projection spell. “I have _got_ to stop getting drunk and taking fertility potions!”

Healer Rowe raised a brow at that. “You mean you didn't plan this?”

“No!” Draco blurted out. “I even convinced myself that I took a headache potion that night instead, but _clearly_ I actually _did_ take a fertility potion!”

“Well don't look at me,” Harry insisted, holding his hands up and waving them back and forth a bit frantically. “I had _no idea_ you'd even taken a potion so you can't blame me!”

Draco gave him a flat look. “Go fuck yourself! I can blame you if I want to!”

Harry laughed. “Love you too!” He then put a finger to his bottom lip and looked toward the ceiling as he hummed in thought. “I wonder if there's a spell I could use to let me actually shag myself.” He smirked impishly at Draco. “Could be fun!”

Draco snorted a laugh and rolled his eyes.

Healer Rowe laughed. “If you invent such a thing, I bet you'd make a lot of money off it! In any case, you look to be about 14 weeks and due in June.”

“Well that's a bonus!” Draco said, trying to find something positive to dwell on. “All of the others are born between the end of September and December. This one could share a birthday with me.” He stopped and squinted at the holographic projection of the baby inside him. “There _is_ only one, right?” It only looked like one, but he could be mistaken.

Rowe chuckled. “Yes. But it's still a bit too early to see if it's a boy or a girl yet.”

Harry kissed Draco on the temple. “We already have three of each, so it really doesn't matter, right?”

“Right,” Draco agreed. He then narrowed his eyes and glared at Harry. “I think we should have her cast that spell on you that snips those little tube things so that it won't matter how many fertility potions I drunkenly take, you won't _be able_ to get me up the duff.”

Harry laughed. “I'm not adverse. I think seven is really quite enough.”

Rowe laughed too. “Of course, then you'd drunkenly slip the potion to Harry and knock him up instead.”

“Don't say that!” Draco blurted out in horror, really not wanting an eighth child no matter which one of them carried it.

Laughing a bit harder, Harry seized a possessive kiss. Then he rested his head on Draco's. “I love you so damn much!”

Draco grumbled for a moment before returning the kiss and muttering: “Love you too.”

Lacing their hands together, Harry grinned. “Come on, we should go home and tell the kids.”

“ _Joy_...” Draco drawled, the word dripping in sarcasm. Sighing, he followed his husband out of the Healer's office. Hand in hand, they enjoyed a scenic (and rather romantic) stroll through London (with a good view of Big Ben in the distance) from St. Mungo's to their home – Grimmauld Place.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yeah, I probably over used that particular joke, but it cracked me up to no end to have *DRACO* be adamant that he didn't want anymore kids, only to be the one who basically got himself pregnant with the last three, lol ^_^  
> He gets heckled about it in the next chapter, lol :-D


	20. December 20th 2017

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Harry and Draco host a party in their home and some of the guests heckle Draco ^_^

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> First of all, I'm *super* excited that I caught up to today! :-D (As in it *is* December 20th 2017, lol)
> 
> Secondly, earlier today, I finished editing a new 28K Drarry fic I'd written over the previous 3-4 days, and my inner impatient brat was like: "Post it post it post it *NOW*!!!" And my slightly more patient side was like: "No no, wait until you finish posting the 25 Days of Draco and Harry. Maybe save it for New Years Eve - since it's that sort of story (which is a reference to how hubby and I usually go to a play party on NYE and it's definitely an erotica, lol)" So now my impatient brat is sulking, and to top it all off, I'm sick, blech... In any case, this is one of my favorite chapters, so I hope you enjoy it ^_^

December 20 th  2017 – Wednesday

 

Draco finished hanging the last bough of mistletoe just before the fire turned green and Ron and Hermione stepped through. “Perfect timing, as always.”

Hermione greeted him with a kiss on the cheek before Ron clasped his hand for a moment. Even after all these years, the two of them weren't exactly best mates, but they got along fairly well out of their mutual love for Harry.

Before they had to make any sort of small talk, the fire turned green again, prompting them to move out of the way. This time, Blaise and Pansy stepped through. They each kissed him rather thoroughly.

“Draco, _darling,_ I feel like it's been _ages_ since we last saw you!” Pansy purred.

“Oh very droll,” Draco replied, rolling his eyes. He and Harry had attended their annual play party just last Saturday.

Pansy grinned rather cattily as she pointed to the ceiling. “Granger, you're standing under some mistletoe.” Before Hermione could respond, Pansy stole a demanding kiss.

“I'm not kissing you!” Ron warned Blaise when a look up proved that he was standing under the festive plant too.

Blaise laughed even as he made room for the next arrival. Ginny and her husband Viktor Krum looked around curiously.

“Where's Harry?” Ginny asked even as she kissed her brother on the cheek.

“In the kitchen,” Draco stated. “He's been cooking almost non stop for the past two days.”

“Sounds like Harry!” Ginny exclaimed with a laugh. She laced her hand through her husband's. “Come, let's go say hi to him.”

As they left the room – Ron and Hermione following them – Greg and Millie arrived. They were followed almost immediately by Theo and Daphne.

“Pansy!” Daphne cried out in delight, taking advantage of the mistletoe Pansy was standing under.

“There're drinks in the drawing room,” Draco informed them all.

“Planning to get us all bladdered and have your wicked way with us?” Pansy asked with a mischievous smirk.

Draco snorted in amusement. “As if I need to get you drunk in order to do that!”

“Planning to get yourself drunk and take another fertility potion?” Blaise asked with a laugh.

“Salazar _no_!” Draco blurted out in mild horror.

Theo slung an arm over Draco's shoulder and grinned a bit reminiscent of a feral wolf. “Are you _sure_ you're not part Weasley?”

“Oh ha ha,” Draco drawled snidely. “Go on and drink some of the extremely expensive alcohol I bought!”

“Will do!” Theo promised before leading his friends out of the room. At the same time, George and Angelina arrived. Angelina dragged Draco under the mistletoe so that she could greet him with a quick and flirty kiss on the lips rather than on the cheek.

“Hi there,” Draco greeted her in bemusement.

“Harry in the kitchen?” George asked. “I heard he was making a cake that's apparently better than sex.”

Draco grinned. “I have such fond memories of that cake. And yes, he is.”

“Excellent!” George exclaimed, wandering off to the kitchen.

Luna and Rolf arrived next, followed by Neville and Hannah, who were followed by Astoria and her wife Gabrielle Delacour. A moment later, Sembene showed up with his wife and their long term boyfriend. After that, Draco lost all track of who was coming through their floo. He greeted everyone and sent them off to obtain drinks and mingle. _Finally_ , the last guest had arrived and Draco could pour himself a drink.

“Oi, Malfoy!” George called out at one point. “Are you _sure_ you should be drinking so much?”

“What's that supposed to mean, Weasley?” Draco demanded with a light glare.

“Just that I can't remember if you're pregnant again,” George heckled. “You and Harry have more kids than even Bill and Fleur!”

“Up yours, wanker! I'm done for good, thank you very much!”

“You sure about that?” Seamus asked with a smirk. “You always seem to think it's a _brilliant_ idea to have more when you're drunk!”

“Fuck off, Finnegan!” Draco growled. “There aren't even any fertility potions in the house – I threw them all out!”

“Plus we both got snipped,” Harry informed them all as he entered the room with a tray of mini sausages wrapped in bacon and baked with brown sugar. “Not only is seven enough, but we're running out of names!”

Ron guffawed. “Is _that_ why you went with Draco Malfoy Junior?”

Draco gave him a flat look. Harry gave Draco a kiss to calm him down. It didn't work.

“Tell your weasel to behave before I hex his mouth shut and truss him up like the pig he is so I can roast him over that open fire.”

“ _Draco_...” Harry growled in warning.

“I will not be insulted in my own home!”

“It's not an insult! I _love_ your name and I'm happy you chose it for our son!”

“He said it like it was an insult!” Draco argued, still rankled.

Neville held up his hands to try to interrupt them. “How in the bloody hell can you two still be married and having kids if you fight this much?”

“Foreplay, Nev,” Ron answered with an amused snort. He held up a slice of cake. “Oi ferret! You didn't put your special secret ingredient in this one, did you?”

Draco and Harry both burst out laughing. “You'll just have to taste it and see,” Draco replied with a smirk of challenge.

“Draco!” Harry blurted out with a laugh. “No Ron, there's no secret ingredients in this cake!”

“That _you_ know of,” Draco added in a mutter.

“There's not!” Harry insisted with a quelling look at his husband.

“Eat at your own risk...” Draco warned in a singsong voice.

Harry set the tray of starters aside and pulled Draco into his arms. “Behave!”

“Never,” Draco vowed with a challenging smirk.

“At least stop frightening the guests,” Harry lightly begged.

“We'll see...” Draco drawled noncommittally. Smirking a bit wider, he gave Harry a flirty smooch.

“You see? Foreplay,” Ron told Neville, who nodded since he couldn't argue the point.

As much as Draco loved his friends – and parties in general – it felt like the party was just _never_ going to end. Finally, the last guest either left or passed out somewhere in the house and Draco was able to drag Harry to their bedroom. It wasn't often that they were completely kid free, but since Molly and Arthur had taken Albus, Scorpius, James, and Narcissa (the child) – and Lucius and Narcissa (the grandmother) had taken Lily, Nymphadora, and baby Draco – they were guaranteed a nice lie in.

And so...

Draco cast an Incarcerous on Harry before blindfolding him with an old Slytherin tie. Then he used a pair of gorgeous albino peacock feathers to drive Harry positively insane with light and sensual strokes. Harry groaned in longing each time Draco replaced one of the feathers with his tongue. In this way, Draco worked Harry up for _hours,_ taking the time to make him fall completely apart.

By the time Draco pushed into Harry, he was also so worked up that he was leaking a long pearly string from his shaft. It didn't take him long to ram Harry into the bed and pump him full to overflowing. They collapsed into a heaving pile and swiftly passed out.

Zoë huffed from the plush dog bed on the floor and got up so that she could _finally_ take her rightful place on Harry's pillow. Astrid – who was a cat and so fairly nocturnal after all – had been watching the show in amusement. She selected one of the feathers to chew on as she sat on Draco's back – since he was currently laying on Harry. Which just left Bianca. The soft and mischievous white fox curled up at their feet, licking and lightly chewing on Draco's toes, just to see how long she could get away with it before he woke up and or kicked her. He was so worn out and sound asleep that she actually gave up and went to sleep herself after about half an hour.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> For once, they managed to have sex without anyone getting knocked up, lmao ^_^  
> But I'm serious, Draco *will not* be getting pregnant anymore and he and Harry have both gotten snipped :-)  
> So it's all family fluff from here on out :-D


	21. December 21st 2018

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The family has an outing at one of their favorite places :-)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Wow, we're getting so close to the end!
> 
> Oh, and Happy Yule everyone ^_^

December 21 st  2018 – Friday

 

Harry emerged from the fireplace in a small wizarding cafe in South Kensington. He was holding baby Draco (who was actually a year and a half now) in a carrier strapped to his chest and immediately turned around to watch his kids pile into the cafe. The last person to step through was Draco, who was wearing three year old Nymphadora in a carrier on his back.

“Alright, this way, it's not far,” Harry reminded them, nodding respectfully at the cafe owners before leading his brood out of the cafe and over a few streets to Exhibition Road.

Albus and Scorpius were eleven and _super_ excited to be visiting their favorite place - the muggle Science Museum. Lily was eight and also happy by this prospect. James and Narcissa were five and not excited about going to the museum so much as they were just happy to be getting out and doing something different than normal – something that was usually fun. Nymphadora and baby Draco didn't really care either way, both happy so long as they had a couple of extremely large and tasty biscuits to gnaw on.

They arrived at the Science Museum and Harry turned to give Albus and Scorpius a very stern look. “Even though I cast a tracking spell on each of you, I expect you to stick together at all times. _Do not_ do 'accidental' magic! Don't cause trouble, and if I hear so much as a hint that either of you played a prank or even just touched something you're not supposed to, I'll ground you both for a month!”

“Yes dad,” they grumbled, knowing that Harry had also cast a sort of monitoring spell on them too so that they couldn't get away with anything. That didn't actually matter to them since they had no interest in causing trouble at the moment. “We're going to be in the Exploring Space galleries.”

“Right. I'll come check up on you later,” Harry informed them. He then turned to Draco. “I'll take James and Narcissa to the Pattern Pod, and you can take Lily to the Launch Pad. Actually, trade littles with me so I can take Nym too. She's old enough for the Pattern Pod now.”

“Alright,” Draco agreed. In less than two minutes, they had baby Draco strapped to big Draco's chest, and three year old Nymphadora was on Harry's back.

“See you in a bit,” Harry murmured as he kissed Draco.

Draco snorted. “That's _if_ I can ever get Lily out of the Launch Pad!”

“Hey, at least they have passion, right?” Harry asked with a smirk.

Draco nodded, giving Harry one last kiss before they separated. It was at times like this that Harry wondered if they should get a couple of those muggle mobile phones to make field trips like this a bit easier on all of them. Shrugging, he led the way to the area of the seven floored building that specialized in teaching children under eight how patterns were important in science. Draco led Lily to the area that had lots of hands on learning things for kids to play with. If Scorpius and Albus ever got tired of the Exploring Space galleries, they'd more than likely go to the Launch Pad to play around too.

In truth, there was just so much to do in the museum that they could quite easily spend _days_ in it if they didn't need to sleep (and if the building didn't close, which it did, every day at 6pm). So it was likely that they wouldn't see each other for _hours_.

As usual for when they visited here, they spent the morning apart before meeting up for lunch in the Energy Cafe.

“So...” Harry began after swallowing a bite of his bacon sandwich. “Do we all want to stay here another few hours, or do we want to go ice skating after all?”

“The skating rink at the Natural History Museum is nearby, and so is Hyde Park,” Draco pointed out.

“Skating rink!” Lily insisted enthusiastically.

“Why can't we stay here?” Scorpius whinged with a light glare at his sister.

“He just wants to keep snogging that girl,” Albus informed them with a smirk.

“ _What girl?”_ Harry and Draco blurted out in alarm in unison.

“Just some girl,” Scorpius stated with a shrug, casting a nasty glare at his twin. Albus rolled his eyes and pointed to a pretty girl their age with hair the color of liquid honey. She was not so secretly watching them and waved. “And I noticed that you neglected to mention that _you_ were kissing her too.”

“Salazar's sweaty sack!” Draco swore in dismay. “This is definitely all _your_ fault, mutt! I didn't have my first kiss until Third Year!”

“Hey!” Harry protested a bit petulantly. “I didn't have my first kiss until I was in Fifth Year!”

“Still, _you're_ the reckless Gryffindor!”

“Who said it was our first kiss?” Albus wondered, prompting Scorpius to hiss in warning and slap a hand over his mouth.

“ _Shut up, idiot!”_

Harry snorted in amusement. “Oh really? And when _was_ your first?”

“Er...” Both boys droned and looked suddenly very fascinated by their sandwiches.

“They took turns talking Rose into snogging them for their birthday at the party Gramma Molly threw at the Burrow,” Lily informed them.

“WHAT?!” Harry roared in alarm.

“Lily!” Scorpius and Albus hissed.

Lily stuck her tongue out at them. “What? It's not like I told them that you also talked Victoire into kissing you too, and she's _loads_ older than you!”

Draco dropped his head into his hand and groaned. “Fuck! We're going to be grandparents by the end of their Second Year...”

“I think we should probably mix contraceptive potions in every sweet we send them from now on,” Harry muttered.

“Good idea!” Draco exclaimed in agreement.

Harry smirked at his husband. “Although, I have to admit that I can see why girls like them, they look just like you at that age, only less snooty and more...”

Draco eyed them speculatively. They looked just like him with short white/blond hair, pale skin, and extra height for their age, but they had a little bit darker – somewhat golden – complexion and Harry's green eyes. “Hot?”

Harry shrugged and nodded in agreement.

Scorpius and Albus preened rather smugly at that.

Since she was finished eating, Lily gathered up the trash that could be tossed at the moment and carried it on a tray over to one of the rubbish bins. She accidentally jostled someone on the way. This just so happened to be a man in his thirties who appeared to be in a bit of a snit.

“Watch it, brat!”

“ _Excuse me?!?!_ ” Lily demanded imperiously, drawing herself up to her full height. She wasn't exactly tall, but with her long and wildly curly black hair, pale skin, and cold gray eyes, she looked a bit like a vampire princess.

The man glared at her, patting down his pockets. “And give back my wallet you stole!”

“How _dare_ you accuse me – _a Malfoy_ – of stealing! You cretin! I'll have you know that my father makes more money when he sneezes than you do in a year! I wouldn't steal from filth like you if it was the only way to save my life!” She berated him haughtily.

“That one's going to be a Slytherin,” Harry muttered, strangely proud as he watched their daughter handily use all of Draco's best techniques to come out on top of the situation.

Meanwhile, Draco thrust baby Draco into Harry's arms before standing up and marching over to the man who was a bit flustered and not quite sure what to make of this presumptuous little chit.

“ _Is there a problem_?” Draco asked in a frosty tone of voice.

“Yeah, your prissy little bi – er...” he faltered when Draco narrowed his eyes dangerously. “SHE STOLE FROM ME!”

“ _DID. NOT!_ ” Lily roared furiously.

“Rather than run your bloody fool mouth like a buggering arsehole, why not pull your head out of your impacted rectum and use your eyes!” Draco suggested, pointing at a wallet laying on the floor maybe two meters away.

“Er...” the man flushed and rubbed the back of his neck. “It must have fallen out when she blundered into me...”

Draco growled and glared at the man, took Lily by the hand, and walked her back to the table. “Bloody twat! Sodding bastard! Buggering arseho –”

“Draco!” Harry chided with a frown. “Try to tone down the language in front of the kids!”

“I should bloody well hex him into next week!”

“ _Draco_...” Harry growled. “I'm bloody _Head_ _Auror_ and I'd be obligated to arrest you...”

Draco glared at him, which he returned as he covertly pointed a finger at the muggle bastard and silently cast a hex to loosen his bowels. The man immediately gasped and clapped his hands to his rear, looking around in a panic for the nearest loo.

“Besides, I don't need my wand and no one could prove I did anything,” Harry added with a shrug.

“Bloody show off!”

“Me?! What sort of example are you providing to our kids anyway? You just taught them all at least a dozen different swear words –”

“As if we didn't already know them,” Albus and Scorpius muttered in unison.

“Zip it!” Harry growled at them. “And then you taught them that it's fine to hex muggles!”

Draco smacked Harry up the back of the head. “Actually, _you_ taught them that, you sodding prick!”

Harry flinched as he realized that Draco was right. “Fine! So we are _both_ being terrible parents today...”

Lily walked over and gave him a kiss on the cheek. “I don't think so. I'm rather happy you gave that horrible man what he deserved. And I just _love_ listening to papa yell at anyone who isn't us.”

Harry snorted and chuckled in amusement at that. Though he wouldn't admit it, he felt the same. He returned her kiss. “Love you, Lily bug.”

She grinned adoringly at him. Since the rest of them were now done eating, they decided to move onto skating – which was aided by balance and cushioning charms on the younger kids. By the end of the day, every single one of them was ready to drop from exhaustion, prompting Harry and Draco to call for a ride from the Knight Bus. They didn't even care that it would take them five or ten times longer to get home this way, simply snuggling up in a pile on a couple of the beds in the bus as they were tossed violently back and forth, making them spill their hot chocolate on everything.

And then finally, they were home and snoring in their own beds – the younger two having insisted on crowding into bed with Draco and Harry.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Harry and Draco, super dads ^_^


	22. December 22nd 2019

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Harry and Draco spend a lazy Sunday at home.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I gave my boys each a stainless steel ring for Yule, blue for Phoenix and gold for Gryffin since I couldn't fine his favorite color of green. Gryffin thought I was giving him a *real* gold ring, and whooped as he slipped it on his finger. He strutted around proudly. "I'm rich now, look I have bling!" I almost didn't have the heart to tell him it wasn't real, lol ^_^

December 22 nd  2019 – Sunday

 

Harry sat sipping on some organic Lapsang Souchong tea and watching two and a half year old Draco chase and be chased by one of Zoë's granddaughters. Harry had let her have a litter or two over the years as he felt that it was an important part of her life experience, but they'd given the puppies away. At some point, one of the puppies had grown up and had litters of her own, and now that Zoë was getting on in years, Harry had taken one of those puppies – who was utterly in love with baby Draco.

Meanwhile, they'd also kept a pair of male kittens from one of Astrid's many litters – Draco's grandmother had insisted that they breed the cat every couple of years since the kittens were highly prized and in demand. In any case, the kittens were now fully grown and loved to stalk each other – and Bianca – around the house. They were also currently defending themselves from a playful attack by James and Narcissa (who were jingling shiny red and green metal bells at them). As for Bianca, the arctic fox was as gorgeous as ever, despite turning a bit silver with age. She lay on her back _demanding_ that Nymphadora rub her belly.

Draco was laying on the couch reading a book, obviously enjoying the fact that the older kids were all staying with friends for the night, and thus, the house was slightly quieter than usual. With Harry home to keep an eye on the younger ones, Draco was having a rare break from being the main caregiver. He'd even cast a bubble around himself to prevent anything from disturbing him.

Harry smiled at him, feeling so blessed by this man who had basically put most of his ambitions and goals in life on hold in order to be Harry's stay at home husband. Now that they were definitely done having new ones, maybe Draco would have a chance to spend more time on his potion making. The brilliant Slytherin had _always_ earned massive amounts of money through careful investing – so money wasn't an issue. It was passion that motivated Draco to tinker with potions whenever he could, and it was that passion that Harry wanted to encourage as much as possible. Good thing he had a much better schedule now that he was Head Auror – so long as nothing major happened, which did from time to time.

“I love you,” he mouthed silently at Draco – who looked up curiously despite the fact that there was no way he could have heard that.

Suddenly, it seemed like all hell broke loose as all of the kids and most of the animals started running circles around the drawing room. Harry watched them in bafflement even as Draco shook his head, rolled his eyes, and ignored them. This was business as usual for him.

After nearly a solid hour of running and screaming and just sheer chaos, Harry finally put his foot down and insisted that the kids all sit down and watch some telly. He played Moana – which was an adventure that appealed to James and baby Draco, while featuring a confident and spirited girl main character that appealed to Narcissa and Nymphadora. To his utter shock, they all dropped off to sleep after only 20 or 30 minutes.

Feeling something in him relax, he moved over to where Draco was sitting and cuddled up with him. They were more or less silent – Harry lost in thought and Draco in his book – which was about [a female elf made out of diamonds](https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00FP3F1E2/) who'd fallen in love with a human she freed from slavery. After a while, Draco looked up from his book and noticed that the reason it was so quiet was that the kids were all asleep.

Grinning, he set his book aside and ran a hand inside Harry's trousers. Harry perked up with interest, giving Draco a smoldering look. They exchanged a multitude of tender kisses that turned rather heated. Harry impatiently vanished all their clothes so that he could get a hands on feel for his husband. Simple but thorough caresses nearly got them off, but a soft growl pulled them from their growing bliss.

“ _Daaaaads_!” Narcissa groaned in disgust. “We're right here!”

“You were sleeping!” Harry pointed out defensively.

“But this is my favorite part of the movie!” Narcissa called out softly so that she didn't wake the others.

Chuckling, Harry simply Apparated him and his husband to their bedroom. “Now, where were we?”

“Right about here...” Draco murmured, caressing Harry's firm arse and rubbing that tight ring of muscle with two fingers.

“You want to top?” Harry asked eagerly. Neither of them had quite had energy for full intercourse for a while, mostly preferring to make love in other ways – such as mutual wanking and frotting.

Draco moaned in anticipation. “Yeah, if that's alright with you.”

“Hell yeah!” Harry exclaimed happily, kissing his gorgeous bastard and waving his hand to cast all the quick prep spells.

Returning the kisses, Draco worked himself into Harry and picked a leisurely pace that would last a _long_ time – provided that Narcissa was kind enough to make sure that none of her siblings came in to interrupt them. Happily, they lasted about an hour before collapsing into a pile. They also got to nap for about an hour before Narcissa poked her head in their room.

“Are you going to make dinner, or should I have Kreacher do it?”

Yawning, Harry stretched and gave Draco an impulsive kiss – just for being so damn gorgeous. “Yeah, I'll make it. Anything in particular you want?”

His six year old daughter pressed a finger to her lip as she thought this over. “Hmm... I could go for that steamed lobster over a bed of veggies. With some prawns. And calamari. Grilled on the hibachi, mmm.....”

“That sounds good!” Draco moaned in agreement. “With a little caviar spread on some rye bread.”

“Ponce!” Harry accused with an amused grin. “Alright, five star it is!” He slipped out of bed and scratched an itch on his bum as he walked out of the room. Narcissa bounced and skipped along in front of him.

“Can I help?”

“Of course love,” Harry agreed with a grin. “We'll bake biscuits later too.”

“Hooray!” She cheered, jumping and throwing her arms in the air. This nearly threw off her oversized tee shirt, which was an old thing of Harry's and the only thing she was wearing at the moment. With such a large family, they'd gotten rather lax about wearing clothes over the years. Sometimes, there just wasn't a point in doing so. Harry almost always cooked naked these days – with an apron if he was making bacon or something else that might splatter.

He ruffled her messy blonde hair, which was usually just as wild as his. “Thanks for keeping an eye on the others for us earlier.”

Narcissa shrugged as if deflecting the praise. “Well, it was easy enough as we all watched movies and snuggled with our pets. That said, Draco (the toddler) _did_ accidentally pee on the couch in his sleep, and none of us wanted to clean that up, so...”

Harry gave her a flat look, not appreciating that in the slightest. “And _why_ didn't you have Kreacher do it?”

She shrugged again. “Didn't think of it.”

Grumbling, Harry asked Kreacher to go take care of that before pulling on his frilly pink apron. Not too long before he and Narcissa had dinner ready to eat, Draco (the adult) appeared in the door of the kitchen to smirk leeringly at his husband. He walked over and gave Harry a thorough kiss while smacking and groping his arse.

Groaning in disgust, Narcissa left the kitchen to go tell the others that dinner would be ready to eat shortly. Provided that their dads didn't get distracted. James rolled his eyes and shook his head, far too used to behavior like that.

Meanwhile, in the kitchen, Harry and Draco snickered.

“Have I ever mentioned that I _love_ disgusting our kids like that?” Harry asked with a grin.

Draco returned his grin. “It's one of my favorite things too!”

After just one more lingering kiss, it was time for dinner. When they were done, a raucous family bath seemed like the perfect way to end a rather lazy Sunday.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> My favorite part was where Harry says he loves Draco, who looked up curiously even though he couldn't have heard Harry, lol :-)


	23. December 23rd 2020

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> What should be a somewhat strained family dinner takes a turn toward the cracky, lol ^_^

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> OMGs you guys, *This* chapter is the one I've wanted to post from the very beginning! If I didn't need all of the previous chapters for this one to make sense, and had I not been doing a daily challenge, I might well have just posted this one and called it good, lol.  
> I really hope I make you laugh ^_^

December 23 rd  2020 – Wednesday

 

Draco took the note from the beautiful Snowy Owl they'd bought Albus when he got his Hogwarts letter – while Scorpius had gotten a pet scorpion, to all of their dismay. Anyway, the owl was home with the boys for the holidays, and so had been sent off with an impromptu invite to dinner. He read the reply, and then let out a heavy sigh.

“I really thought my parents would decline,” he murmured, not quite sure how to feel about their acceptance of the invitation.

“Why?” Harry wondered curiously as he pulled a batch of biscuits out of the oven.

“Just that I told them that this dinner was going to be all of us _and_ Molly and Arthur. My dad and Arthur still can't stand each other, so I thought they'd make their excuses to avoid coming,” Draco explained.

“Maybe your dad is finally growing up in his old age,” Harry suggested with a smirk.

Draco rolled his eyes. “Unlikely.”

Before Harry could say anything, Molly and Arthur Apparated into their kitchen. “Harry love!” Molly greeted as she hugged him tight. “I didn't know what to bring, so I made a treacle tart _and_ a cherry cheesecake.”

“Mmm!” Harry moaned happily, giving her a kiss on the cheek. “Sounds perfect!”

Draco exchanged hugs and kisses on the cheek with Molly before shaking Arthur's hand. After so many years of being married to Harry, he'd gotten used to being a part of the Weasley family. He then carried the desserts to the table where Harry had a feast waiting in stasis.

Lucius and Narcissa Apparated into the kitchen just then. “Sorry that took us a few minutes, Draco darling. I couldn't find the right bottle of wine to bring, so I brought all your favorites.”

“Yes!” Draco hissed happily, kissing his mother on the cheek, which she returned. He then hugged his father.

Narcissa gave Harry a brief hug and a light kiss on the cheek, but then Lucius and Harry gave each other flat looks. All these years later and they barely tolerated one another. Harry decided to be polite until given a reason to be rude.

“Good evening, Lucius. I trust you are well.”

“Well enough, thank you. And you?” Lucius asked in that polite tone of his that held a hint of a disdainful sneer.

“Brilliant, thanks for asking,” Harry replied with a genuine smile.

“Lovely...” Lucius replied, sounding like he meant the exact opposite, although he had _tried_ to sound sincere.

Harry chuckled and gestured to indicate the ready and waiting table. “Please sit down, _oh pretentious arse_.”

Lucius felt so much better that he wasn't expected to play nice simply because he was in Harry's home. “Certainly, _oh Lord and Savior_.”

Laughing, Harry took a seat and started dishing up the Christmas goose. Everyone else took a seat too, all too eager to eat to talk much at the moment. Except for seven year old James, who frowned at Harry.

“Dad...? Why does Grandpa always call you that?”

“Call me what?” Harry wondered, not really paying attention to the question.

“That Lord and Savior thing,” James clarified, still frowning.

“It's because dad defeated that evil bloke,” Scorpius answered as he held out his plate for a juicy leg.

“Evil bloke?” James questioned with a raised brow.

“Yeah,” Albus confirmed with a nod. “We learned about it in school.”

Harry sighed as if defeated. “Really? I was hoping everyone would just forget about that.”

Lily rolled her eyes and gave her younger brother a _look_. “I know you can read, so do you just not read any of the papers? Dad's in like every other one.”

“He is???” James blurted out in surprise. “I did not know that.”

Narcissa (the younger one; James' twin) shook her head. “No, he _doesn't_ read the papers.”

“None of the rest of you should either,” Harry stated with a frown. “They _never_ report anything true when it comes to me.”

“That's an understatement!” Lily (now ten) stated with a snort. “I read an article not too long ago about how you have 20 children and half of them are half goblin – the product of a torrid decade long affair.”

Harry dropped his forehead into his left hand. “Merlin! Really???”

“Why didn't I know about this affair?” Draco asked in amusement.

Harry laughed. “I apparently have it during my lunch break.”

“Ah,” Draco murmured, deciding to drop the joke before their kids thought they were serious.

“So tell us about this evil bloke,” Nymphadora – who was five – insisted with clear curiosity.

“Do I have to?” Harry asked Draco.

“Let me tell it,” Arthur stated, long used to telling the story to his _many_ grandchildren. He started by talking about how _He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named_ was a madman with terrible ideals.

To which Lucius butted in with the insistence that the Dark Lord had made a lot of sense – until he abandoned the values he had vowed to uphold.

“You mean took them much too far,” Draco corrected in a soft murmur.

“The values were never worth upholding in the first place!” Arthur argued. Between the two grandpas, the seven kids had quite a thorough lesson on Voldemort and the Wizarding Wars. They hung on every shouted word and wondered if a brawl would break out. Molly and Narcissa (the adult) interjected corrections from time to time, but otherwise kept out of it.

Harry only drank very lightly – despite finding the wine excellent. He wanted to keep a cool head so that his magic was less likely to go out of control and blow Lucius up at any point. Also, this meant that he was able to keep an eye on their kids and make sure that none of them snuck more than the appropriate amount of watered down wine for their ages.

Draco drank more wine than Harry because it really was one of his favorites, so why not? Lucius seemed to feel that wine was the only way he could get through the argument without threatening to hex everyone. His wife Narcissa sipped on her wine and felt strangely amused. Molly decided that drinking the wine would give her something else to focus on, and Arthur forewent all imbibing simply because he wanted a clear head to make his points come across as easily understandable as possible.

When the argument reached an explosive conclusion, Lucius flung his hands out and roared at Draco: “Tell me, son, _when_ are you going to divorce this sodding bastard and marry a nice pureblood witch already?! I look forward to no longer having to deal with _Weasleys_...” He was actually a bit drunk by this point.

Draco glared at his father. “Why in the bloody fuck would I do that?!” He waved his hand around to indicate everyone at the table. “We've been married for 16 years and have seven kids together!”

Lucius tilted his head to the side and nodded as if this was actually a reasonable excuse. “I _do_ love my grandchildren.”

“Not to mention that Harry and I are still so bloody stupid in love that we can't keep our hands off each other's arses and pricks!”

“Draco!” Harry blurted out, feeling that this was information that Lucius didn't really need to know.

“Well we are!” Draco shouted defensively.

“Yes, hence the seven kids, I'm just saying that you don't need to say it out loud at the dinner table,” Harry pointed out reasonably.

“I'll say it whenever I want to, mutt, and there's nothing you can do to stop me!”

“And it's not like we don't all already know,” Albus grumbled, as pragmatic as most Hufflepuffs.

“We _did_ walk in on you shagging this morning, after all,” Scorpius – a Gryffindor – added with a flat expression.

“If you don't like it, then _maybe_ you should remember to knock before entering our room!” Harry roared at them, returning their flat look.

“Yeah yeah,” Scorpius muttered, not really agreeing or disagreeing. _Not_ that he liked walking in on that, just that he usually forgot to knock. Or was in too much of a rush to stop and think about it.

“Working on more grandchildren for us?” Molly asked with a heckling smirk. Fred and George had gotten the penchant from _someone_ after all. Or perhaps it was the other way around.

“Salazar's syphilitic prick! _Please_ tell me you're not!” Lucius burst out in horror. “Haven't you got enough?!”

“Quite,” Draco stated with a soft chuckle.

“And no,” Harry added, also with a chuckle. “We're not having any more.”

“Thank Merlin and the Founders!” Lucius exclaimed in relief. “And what the hell, thank that muggle God too. I mean I _adore_ the ones you already have, but enough is enough, Salazar damn it!”

“Agreed,” Draco murmured, taking another sip of wine.

Narcissa (his mother) smirked impishly. “Oh, I don't know... I always thought at least one more granddaughter would be lovely.”

“Yes,” Molly agreed, delighted for an opportunity to wind Harry up. “They could name her Harriet.”

“Or Lucille,” Narcissa suggested with a smirk at her husband.

“Hell no!” Harry roared in response to both suggestions.

Snickering, Narcissa changed the subject. “So, tell me all about school, my loves.”

Desperate to talk about anything other than their dads shagging, Albus and Scorpius decided that a demonstration was in order.

“We're doing really well, see?” Scorpius purposely miscast a Wingardium Leviosa on the bread pudding, making it explode all over Lucius, while Albus correctly cast the same charm on a fluffy strawberry chiffon pie. Unfortunately, he lost control of the charm when it was halfway to Arthur, making it rocket over to him and cover him in super tasty deliciousness.

Arthur took this in stride, wiping a bit off his face and tasting it, while Lucius narrowed his eyes at Scorpius. “Oh, it's like that, is it?” He promptly cast a spell to splatter the butterscotch pudding all over Scorpius.

Draco and Harry chided: “Boys!” While Narcissa scolded: “Lucius!”

Arthur covertly cast a charm to clean all the pie off himself and send it over to Lucius, prompting Molly to cry out: “Arthur!”

Lucius, Arthur, and the twin boys promptly chose new desserts to hurl at each other via spells, while Lily and the younger kids decided to just use their hands. Food was suddenly flying everywhere. Harry and Draco tried their best to regain order.

Until someone dared to fling Harry's favorite treacle tart, making Harry growl and roll up his sleeves. “Oh, it's on now!” It was probably a good thing that Harry had made about a hundred times more food than strictly necessary because there was plenty to throw. Even Molly got in on it!

The only person who maintained a sense of decorum was Narcissa, who cast a shield around herself and sipped on her wine while steadily ignoring the chaos around her. Draco largely did the same, only participating by intercepting anything coming at him and flinging it back at whomever threw it.

Narcissa smiled tightly at her son. “So nice to have the whole family together for dinner.”

“Yes,” Draco agreed smoothly, ducking a flying sticky pastry.

“I do hope we can have dinner at the Manor soon,” Narcissa added, taking another sip of wine.

“I look forward to it,” Draco replied with impeccable manners before intercepting a pumpkin pie with a tall layer of fluffy whipped cream and banishing it toward James.

In practically no time at all, the entire dining room was covered in food and almost every person was dripping with something or other. Seven year old Narcissa walked over to Lucius with a very Malfoy smirk on her face and smashed some cake in his hair. Then she gave him a big kiss on the cheek.

“You look so funny right now, Grampy!”

Lucius chuckled dryly. “Yes, I suppose I probably do.” He gave her a kiss on the cheek and then smashed some cake in her hair in return. “And so do you, half-pint.”

Draco harrumphed, just a tiny bit disgruntled with his father. “Never would have let _me_ get away with a food fight...” Then he pointed up the stairs. “In the bath, all seven of you, _now_!” His kids didn't even protest, simply chattered on about how now would be an excellent time to have a water fight in the tub.

“Okay, _now_ I'm glad we have a house elf,” Harry informed Draco with a grin.

“Yes,” Draco agreed before calling for Kreacher to come clean up the mess.

Harry waited until he wasn't looking, and then poured what was left of the gravy over Draco's head. Draco immediately looked like an irate fire-breathing dragon.

“Why. The fuck. Did you. Do that?” He snarled. If he _could_ breathe fire, he would be.

Harry grinned at him impishly. “It's not fair that you're still clean. I just had to mess up your pretty hair. And besides, I never did get you back for that spit beer!” Which was _years_ ago, but Harry had never forgotten it.

“I hope you realize that this means that I now have to kill you and bury you out in the back garden,” Draco stated mildly.

Harry snorted in amusement. “I'd like to see you try.”

“Oh no, you won't see it coming,” Draco promised quite seriously. He vanished the mess and cast charms to fix his hair. Still smirking, Harry leaned over and kissed him, which Draco returned, belying his deadly vow.

Lucius stood up as regally as he could, considering that he was still covered in a riot of food. “Well, this has been fun, but we have to be going. I do hope we can do this again soon.”

Harry raised a brow at him. He actually almost sounded sincere!

Arthur stood up as well; he actually looked delighted. “We have to be going too. Promised George and Angelina a visit tonight and we should probably clean up a bit first.”

Harry gave him and Molly each a hug and a kiss. Draco gave his mother a hug and kiss but promised to save his father's hug for the next time he saw him. After the older generation left, Harry and Draco exchanged a glance.

“Well... that could have gone so much worse,” Harry stated.

Draco snorted a laugh. “Yes. Now go take a bath so that I can murder you like I promised.”

Harry grinned at him. “I'll hold you to that!”

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> In the next chapter, the twins nearly give Draco a heart attack, lol :-D


	24. December 24th 2021

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Draco's forced to bring his oldest twins to Diagon Alley for some last minute Christmas shopping.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay you guys, I didn't mention this before because I didn't want to sound like I was complaining, 'cuz I'm not, I'm just sharing my experience, but as much as I love this daily challenge and half wish it would never end, I'm also really glad that it's almost over. Here's why:  
> In order to make each post, I have to do a lot more than copy and past and hit post. First of all, my computer is new, I got it for my birthday in October. On my last computer and on this new one, I favored Firefox, but in the last six months or so, it's been going SO SLOW... Like, it seriously takes up to a minute for it to respond to *everything* I do. I was so excited when I discovered that Firefox was coming out with a completely revamped and supposedly faster version... and then I got it and it was EVEN SLOWER!!! So, I was forced to try out the Edge that came with my computer, and meh, but it gets the job done without lagging and taking forever.  
> HOWEVER, there's a gigantic flaw in the browser... When I go to post on AO3, it screws up. I paste my text into the field like normal, and it turns into complete gibberish, and I'm not even talking about any sort of special formatting errors, I'm talking about how it thinks a simple quotation mark " should be something along the lines of ?&ref20% - and I'm like WTF??? SOOOO, I have to use Firefox and be patient for the on average of 15-20 minutes it takes me to post a simple chapter. Longer for an entirely new story. But I'm not done.  
> At this point, I can go over to Edge and in less than 5 minutes, I can post the post on Slythindor100 for the fest, phew! But - for whatever reason - Edge *also* doesn't let me just click on or right click on an image to view it. So I have to copy the link to my post on Slythindor100 and paste it into Firefox, which lets me view the image. This is important because I need the info in the address bar when viewing the image in order to embed it in my AO3 post. I copy that info, but then thankfully can go back to Edge and edit my post to embed the image, and then - phew! - I'm done.  
> Unless the post has links in it too, lol. But as I said, I'm not complaining, I'm just ready to take a break :-)  
> As for this chapter, I seriously love those twins, lol ^_^

December 24 th  2021 – Friday

 

Draco needed a break! He'd been running around all morning with Albus and Scorpius searching for last minute gifts. The problem was that his two dunderheads were not Slytherins. _Slytherins_ would have had this situation handled weeks ago, but _no_! He had a Hufflepuff and a Gryffindor!

These two dunderheads hadn't really given much thought to buying anything. Well, as Draco understood it, Albus the Hufflepuff had, but Scorpius the Gryffindor had been _so certain_ that they wouldn't need to. And then owls arrived this morning with presents from each of their girlfriends, and suddenly, they had forcibly bundled Draco up and dragged him off to Diagon Alley.

Now, one might _think_ that the day before Christmas would be a peaceful time to shop – with everyone having already bought all the gifts they needed – but one would be wrong. Diagon Alley was utterly _packed_ with last minute shoppers. So much so that Draco felt a bit claustrophobic and had a hard time making his way through the crowds. Or at least, he had trouble until he squared his shoulders and [put on his most Malfoy face, at which point, people seemed to suddenly notice him and practically leap out of his way.](https://www.pinterest.com/pin/AQHJfXFaLi1XS9kZmpqBauAG3ADVzCKcCDx9qlL_dw4V8_hBeX-ETmE/)

Even so, he felt utterly worn out!

Deciding that he was going to murder his own sons in cold blood if they didn't take a bit of a break, he insisted that they all sit down at one of the outdoor tables surrounded by cushy chairs – that were magically heated to provide comfort – arranged around a cart that sold roasted chestnuts and a variety of other snacks. The vendor was in high spirits despite the fact that she was working for countless hours in the cold. She served them their chestnuts with a flirty wink.

Draco was half amused and half disconcerted to watch his boys wink back at her and flirt rather shamelessly considering the fact that she was in her thirties at least and rather plump. Not that he had anything against plump. Just that his boys were only 14 and he thought that was an age where such things _did_ matter. But apparently not to them. They'd half talked her into giving them her details – not to mention kisses, which made Draco choke on his hot chocolate – before he insisted that they come sit down already.

“Maybe we should just go home,” Draco suggested as the warmth of the chocolate and the chestnuts soothed him just a little.

“NO!” His boys cried out together, sounding panicked. “WE HAVE TO FIND THE PERFECT GIFTS FOR OUR GIRLFRIENDS OR THEY'LL THINK WE DON'T LOVE THEM AND WE'LL _DIE_!!!”

“You won't die,” Draco assured them with an unappreciative expression.

“WE'LL _DIE_!” They wailed, both swooning dramatically as if they'd just been hit by Avada Kedavras.

Draco rolled his eyes and wondered where exactly they'd gotten this flair for melodrama.

After they finished up their snacks, Draco adjusted his scarf and cast another warming charm on it. Then he braced himself for more torture that was shopping on a day when any sane person would be at home. Why oh why hadn't he insisted that Harry bring them???

Oh, right, because Harry was home cooking up enough food to feed an army, sigh...

A few minutes of walking along looking through the windows of the shops later, the boys came across a pair of ten year old girls. They were apparently best friends who were out shopping for their older brothers – who were in the Year or so above the twins.

“I think we can help you out with that,” Scorpius offered with a charming grin.

“If you help us look for the perfect gifts for our girlfriends,” Albus added, also with a charming grin.

“Deal!” The girls exclaimed in unison. Each girl took a boy by the hand and dragged him into the Enchanted Jewelers. Draco raised a brow as he wondered if this might be a bit much for barely teenaged boys to buy their probably not that serious girlfriends.

To his relief, the girls picked out simple yet tastefully delicate little gold chains with tiny heart charms. This actually would be perfect and Draco was impressed. Until the boys bought an extra pair to give the girls as a thank you, and the girls gave them giddy hugs, which the boys took as their cue to kiss the girls.

“AHEM!” Draco cleared his throat in disapproval. “Don't you _have_ girlfriends?”

“Oh relax, dad!” Scorpius told him flippantly. “This is nothing.”

“Just saying merry Christmas,” Albus added with a shrug.

“How am I not a grandfather yet?” Draco muttered under his breath as he rubbed his temples.

The boys had the sales clerk – a twenty year old girl who also thought the twins were quite charming – wrap the presents. Then they insisted Draco take them home that instant, which Draco was more than happy to do. He grabbed a hand from each of them and Apparated them home.

They promptly tied the gifts to Albus' snowy owl – which was a girl he'd named Spike – and sent her off to deliver them to their girlfriends. Draco watched them with a feeling like he had no idea how he'd made two Lotharios. He shook his head and walked into the kitchen where Harry was busy rolling out the dough for pie crusts.

Draco walked up and kissed him on the back of his neck. “The good news is that our boys found the perfect gifts for their girlfriends. The bad news is that they kissed the middle aged witch running the chestnut stand, a pair of ten year old girls, _and_ a pretty young clerk – although they think I didn't see that one.”

Harry gave Draco a look of disbelief. “Why did you let them?”

“Wasn't exactly time to stop them,” Draco stated with a shrug.

“A middle aged witch, really?” Harry questioned, not entirely sure if he should be upset or impressed.

“Yes,” Draco confirmed, still rather disconcerted by that.

“Did we ever start mixing contraceptive potions into everything we send them?” Harry wondered.

“No, but I think I probably should,” Draco admitted.

Just then, James, Narcissa, and Nymphadora piled into the kitchen. “Is it time to ice the biscuits yet???”

Harry gestured to the dozens of cooled biscuits lining one counter. There was a giant bowl of frosting and a variety of different colored sprinkles off to the side. “Have at it.”

“HOORAY!!!”

Lily walked into the kitchen carrying (not so) little Draco on her hip. “What's going on?”

“It's time to frost the biscuits!” James called out excitedly.

“Yes!” Lily hissed, setting her four year old brother down and handing him a biscuit. She thought this would occupy him, but he insisted on having a butter knife of frosting too. He smeared a bit across his biscuit and then tasted it to make sure that it was good before repeating the action over and over until his biscuit was gone and he needed another.

“Merlin's crooked teeth!” Scorpius cried out in dismay. “Why didn't anyone tell us that it's time to ice the biscuits?!”

“We figured you'd notice it eventually,” Lily replied flippantly.

The twins harrumphed and stuck their tongues out at her. There was a bit of unnecessary arguing over who got to frost which biscuits, but their dads let them settle it on their own. Eventually, bickering turned to general chatter.

Unsurprisingly, Lily burst into song. “You better watch out, when winter comes nigh, you better not doubt, I'm telling you why: Mother Berta's coming to town... She carries a sack made out of skin, she dumps the toys out and stuffs bad kids in. [Mother Berta's coming to town](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nej78N1yfMc).”

Narcissa and little Draco joined in. “She rides on Master Skeggi, a goat who's back is strong.”

Nymphadora joined in. “Her beard is gray and scraggly, and her tail is ten feet long!”

James, Albus, and Scorpius gave up trying to be cool at this point and joined in too. “With six or eight horns, a mustache or two, make a mistake, she's coming for you, Mother Berta's coming to to~~wn.

Harry couldn't resist any longer either. “So when the winds howl, way up above, listen as she and Skeggi pass by, Mother Berta's coming to to~~wn! You better watch out when winter comes nigh, you better not doubt, I'm telling you why: Mother Berta's coming to to~~~wn!”

Finally, Draco – who was finding his youngest son utterly adorable as he had far more frosting on his face than on any of the biscuits – could no longer hold back from joining in. “She knows with whom you're sleeping, she knows with whom you wake, she knows each thought you're thinking, so don't _think_ for Goddess sake! Better watch out, you better not cry, you better not pout, I'm telling you why: Mother Berta's coming to to~~~wn!”

The entire family paused and looked around at each other as they did the super silly fake witch's laugh: “AHAHAHAHA! I'll get you my pretty, and your little dog too! Watch out! I'm coming for you...”

Then they giggled for a few seconds before finishing the song. At the very end, when they were repeating the lyric: “Watch, she's coming for you!” Lily fake attacked little Draco and sang in a silly/fake scary voice: “Watch out! I'm coming for you!”

The entire family dissolved into giggles and launched into another song. ([Jingle bells, cast your spells](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pwy143gA7vo), make the whole world gay, oh how fun it is to fly on a broomstick with the fae!) Lily insisted that Harry and Draco take turns dancing with her, which prompted the other girls to insist the same, and then the boys felt just jealous enough that they consented to dance with their dads too. Especially little Draco, who actually fell asleep in his father Draco's arms mid dance. Draco gave his son a kiss and carried him off to bed.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Tomorrow's the finale, waa-haa-haa :')  
> Merry Christmas Eve everyone :-)


	25. December 25th 2022

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It's finally Christmas! The family celebrates the day in their own unique way :-)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oh Gods! Merry Christmas you guys! I myself celebrate Yule instead, but I can appreciate any chance to spread the love :-)  
> We had a minor fire in our house yesterday. Our toaster oven burst into flames while making *me* chicken fingers (my hubby and kids had made some before I even woke up, lol.), and since I was standing right next to it waiting for the *last two minutes* to finish up, I saw it light up and was somewhat amused. Decided to use it as a teaching moment since it was contained in the toaster oven and I'm a homeschooling mama. Well, it just so happens that the fire got big and fairly scary rather quickly, and although me and my boys *would* have gotten it under control in another two minutes, it's really a good thing my hubby was home. He remembered to unplug the darn thing, and when tossing salt all over it didn't work (the fire extinguisher was in the cupboard right above the fire and couldn't be gotten to without burning our hands), my hubby grabbed two pitchers of water and chucked them at it. Put it out and nothing other than the toaster oven got burned. That said, the entire kitchen, some of the living room and bathroom were filled with a thick, ash-filled black smoke and we had to open our windows and have fans blow it out. The kids were smart enough to crouch near the floor and cover their noses to avoid breathing it in, and yes, it was a learning moment for *all* of us.  
> So that was my excitement for the day, what was yours? :-)

December 25 th  2022 – Sunday

 

“Daddy! Daddy! Daddy! Daddy! Daddy!” Little Draco shouted much louder than necessary as he shook Harry as much as possible.

“Draco, your son is awake,” Harry grumbled, kicking his husband on the side of his leg even as he yanked the pillow out from under Zoë the Second – who was a puppy and already awake and watching little Draco curiously. When Harry smothered his own head with the pillow, Zoë inexplicably decided that this meant that she was supposed to dig her way under it and lick and chew on his ear.

“I think you mean _your_ son is awake,” Draco grumbled in return, turning onto his side so that his back was to them and he could ignore them.

Little Draco shifted his attention, shaking his other father insistently. “PapaPapaPapaPapaPapaPapaPapa!!!”

Draco groaned a long and low groan of profound reluctance to wake up. “ _Whaaaaat?!”_

His son climbed onto him and yelled in his ear. “Wake up! It's Christmas morning!

“Go back to sleep!” Draco commanded, pushing him back onto the middle of the bed. “It'll be Christmas morning for _hours_ yet.”

“It's now! It'snowIt'snowIt'snowIt'snowIt'snowIt'snowIt'snow!” Little Draco was resorting to bouncing on his dad in an effort to get him out of bed _right this second_.

With a soft roar, Harry tossed his pillow aside and scooped Zoë the Second up so that she had to stop biting his ear. “ _Fine!_ ” He looked over at the clock. “Merlin's flea bitten arse! It's only half six!” Which was basically when he woke up when he needed to go to work. He glared at his son. “I blame your father...”

“ _Me?!”_ Draco (the adult) roared in outrage. “How the fuck is this _my_ fault?!”

“Because when you want attention, you get attention and it doesn't matter what time it is or what plans a person might have,” Harry informed him with a light glare.

Draco opened his mouth to argue, but then shut it again with a harrumph. Harry leaned over and kissed him. “You may as well go back to sleep if you can. I'll make something for breakfast and _try_ to keep this imp occupied.”

Little Draco, at five and a half years old, could understand the implication of what his father said. He gave Harry an impressive glare, especially since he looked almost exactly like the father he had been named for.

“I'm not an imp!”

Harry chuckled and ruffled his silky white blond hair. He thrust Zoë into little Draco's arms. “Here, take her outside for me and chase her around until she does her business.”

“Okay daddy!”

The moment little Draco left the room, big Draco caught Harry's arm. Harry hadn't quite left the bed yet since he was still bleary eyed and now very much wished he hadn't been up _quite_ as late shagging last night. He looked at his husband curiously.

“You shouldn't have to get up early on Christmas either. Lay back down and when he comes back with your dog, I'll cast a sleeping spell on him to give us a nice lie in.”

“Oh fu – er, heck no!” Albus and Scorpius blurted out from the doorway. Their dads cast them a _look_.

“Our little dragon woke us all up,” Albus informed them.

“And we're _not_ going to just sit around waiting to open our presents while you sleep all day!” Scorpius added emphatically.

“Here here!” Lily, James, Narcissa, and Nymphadora roared in agreement.

“I could cast spells on them all,” Draco whispered to Harry.

Harry laughed. “Wouldn't help, I taught the older three how to shield themselves.”

“Normally I'd consider that a good thing,” Draco muttered a bit petulantly. “But right now, I feel like I should hex you for it.” He sat up and slipped out of bed. “Did you set the heating charms to inside an active volcano?”

Harry chuckled. “Not to my knowledge, but it _does_ feel rather stifling at the moment.”

“Well, the good thing about having a day at home with just our family is that I can lounge around naked,” Draco stated, trying to find _something_ good about being awake already.

“Oh good!” Lily cheered. “That means you won't expect me to put something on! Such as that dress Grammy got me to wear today...”

Harry finally slipped out of bed and stretched side to side. “Naked sound perfectly fine to me.”

“Hooray!” James and Narcissa cried out, stripping off the pajamas they had put on simply because they thought it would be expected of them to wear something for the holiday. It didn't take long for the family to relocate to the kitchen, with a few stops by the loo on the way.

Astrid – who was getting old for a cat – elected to stay in bed, but her mischievous sons felt that it was time to chase the older pug around the house. Her name was Diamond and she was Zoë the Second's mother – being a granddaughter from the original Zoë, it only seemed fitting to keep one of her puppies from the most recent litter. Joining in on the chase was the kneazle that Lily had picked out as her Hogwarts present. And the ferret that James and Narcissa had insisted on buying at the same time. It was white blond and _adorable_.

Draco (their father) was _not_ amused by this but refused to tell them why. (And Harry pretended like he didn't know either.)

Bianca the arctic fox was an old lady now, laying on Harry and Draco's bed with Astrid, so she wasn't feeling up to running around, and Draco – as much as he _adored_ that fox, didn't have the heart to make her move around too much. She was on her last legs and he had _no idea_ what he was going to do after she was gone. That said, he'd taken over the breeding trios from his grandmother – which meant that he now had _six_ more cats (four females and two males) underfoot at all times. Plus Albus' owl, Scorpius' scorpion, and Nymphadora's Pygmy Puffs – that she'd only gotten one to begin with, but had gotten a second for Christmas (from Ron) that same year, that just so happened to be the opposite gender, and now she had about a billion of them!

Harry had once muttered that they seemed to breed like tribbles. Thankfully, she had so many of them that she didn't notice all the times when one (or all) of the cats hunted and ate one. Speaking of, Draco had to hastily shoo one of the cats (he could never keep track of which of the six new Russian Blues was which) outside to finish his meal before Nym saw it.

Little Draco came back in from his romp with Zoë and immediately wailed that it felt about a thousand degrees inside. Seeing that everyone else was naked, he promptly stripped off and sighed in relief. Breakfast – super simple cereal and milk – was in progress, so he grabbed a bowl and filled it. He chowed down as fast as he possibly could so that he could urge the rest of them to hurry so they could open presents.

In contrast, Harry urged them all to take their time. “So... how's school been going?”

“We're in Fourth Year,” Albus reminded him with a shrug. “What more do you need to know?” He and his twin were 15, but since they were born after September 1st, they had turned 11 after what they felt _should_ have been their first year. It was the same for Lily, so even though she was currently 12, she was only in her first year. Harry privately thought they had a point, that any child who would turn 11 during the school year (or maybe before January 1 st) _should_ be allowed to start if they so wished, but he wasn't in charge of such things.

Harry gave his boys a look. “Yes, we're well aware that you're in Fourth Year. Tell us what you're learning and what you like or don't like.”

The twins exchanged looks that suggested that they were tempted to roll their eyes. “We're learning Potions, Herbology, Astronomy, Defense Against the Dark Arts, Charms, Care of Magical Creatures, Muggle Studies, Transfiguration, and History of Magic,” Scorpius reminded him.

“ _Merlin's warty back!_ It's like pulling nails!” Harry groaned in frustration.

“They just don't want to tell you that they don't care about their grades and would much rather snog their girlfriends,” Lily informed him helpfully.

“You're still with them? What were their names again, Ingrid and Monica?” Draco asked, somewhat impressed.

Scorpius tilted his head in confusion. “What? No! We haven't dated them since, oh... Second Year? I think.”

“Then who were you with last year?” Draco wondered with a frown.

“Erm... at which point?” Albus wondered.

“Christmas!” Draco exclaimed with one brow raised.

“I was with a girl named Heidi,” Albus replied with a shrug.

“And I was with Anne,” Scorpius added. “I think...”

“Aaaaand who are you with now?” Draco drawled, not sure whether to be amused or disconcerted.

Scorpius grinned, obviously elated. “I _finally_ snagged Ginger!”

Draco frowned at that. “You're dating a ginger?”

“Well yes, but that's actually her name. She's simply _gorgeous_!”

“And I'm with Melody,” Albus added with a soft smile. “Who's not a ginger. She's actually blonde.”

Harry and Draco exchanged a look. “I only had _two_ girlfriends my entire six years of school!”

“I only had one,” Draco reminded him.

“Wait!” James blurted out in confusion. “You had _girlfriends_?”

Harry chuckled. “Yeah. I liked a girl named Cho and went on one date with her in my Fifth Year, and then I dated Ginny for a while in Sixth Year.”

“ _Our Aunt Ginny?!?!_ ” All the kids blurted out in horror. “ _WHY would you do that?!_ ”

“Good question,” Draco muttered dryly.

“Oi,” Harry protested with a nudge of his shoulder to Draco's. “I really thought she was the one back then.”

“Clearly one of many examples of your Gryffindor idiocy,” Draco muttered.

“You were dating Pansy, so you can't exactly complain!” Harry pointed out.

“Yes I was dating Pansy, but that was only because I didn't realize I was more attracted to arse than fanny at that point,” Draco explained with a shrug.

“I'm just saying: how is it any different?” Harry asked in mild confusion.

“It's different because I didn't think she was the one,” Draco informed him a bit haughtily.

“Alright, whatever,” Harry stated dismissively. “So anyway, if the boys are too interested in girls to do their homework, then _please_ tell me that you're actually learning something, Lils.”

“Of course!” Lily scoffed, tossing her long, wild, curly black hair over her shoulder. “I'm in _Slytherin_. I don't have time for stupidity!”

“Wait, back up,” Draco didn't exactly interrupt, but didn't give her a chance to go into details either. He looked at his twin boys. “It just occurred to me that we've rather avoided a very big Hippogriff in the room.”

The boys exchanged a wary look. “Er...”

“Your dad and I have mostly joked about it and definitely tolerated it, but you're actually old enough now where it's rather alarming that you both keep going through girlfriends. Not to mention kissing just about every witch you talk to for more than five seconds.”

“It's just snogging!” Scorpius argued defensively.

“Is it really?” Draco challenged, leaning over the table to look him in the eye while Harry basically did the same to Albus.

“Yes!” Scorpius cried out emphatically.

“With the very occasional hand up a shirt,” Albus added in a grumble with a blush.

Harry and Draco both sighed – partly in relief and partly in defeat (and frustration) that there was probably no way they could stop these two from playing around. No matter _how much_ they wished otherwise. Draco rubbed his temples and Harry bit his lip in thought.

“Tomorrow, your dad is going to teach you how to brew contraceptive potions, and you are both going to promise us that you will _always_ have some on hand and _use them_ if it ever comes to that. Got it!” Harry stated firmly, pointing at them.

“Yes dad,” the twins muttered, more embarrassed by the idea of discussing it with their dads than having any real reluctance to learn the potion.

Harry turned his finger to Lily. “And _you_ can remain uninterested in boys until you're in your Sixth Year, at the very least.”

“Well that's rather misogynistic!” Lily muttered murderously.

“Yes, but I'm just not ready to be a grandpa yet!” Harry exclaimed.

“Me either,” Draco agreed.

Narcissa stuck her tongue out in mild repulsion. “Who wants babies? I'm _never_ having any!” This made complete sense since she was only nine.

“I am!” Her twin James cried out in glee. “I _can't wait_ to fall in love with a nice boy and have lots and lots of babies!”

This actually surprised both Harry and Draco. “What? Boy? Really?” They suddenly felt a strange sense of parental pride fill them.

“I want to be a baby doctor,” Nymphadora announced, but this wasn't really a surprise since she'd been playing doctor for all her dolls for as long as they could remember.

“Healer,” Lily absently corrected her.

Little Draco was too young to care about babies in the slightest, so he held up his empty bowl. “Can we open presents now?”

“Yes please!” The rest of the kids begged enthusiastically.

“Alright,” Harry capitulated. They all moved to the drawing room with the Christmas tree in it. It was tall and decorated with golden lights and red bows – Draco _still_ didn't know why it was so very Gryffindor and not representative of Slytherin at all. Under the tree was what looked like a million presents, but that was actually an illusion that was part of the protective charms that had been cast on the tree to keep the kids and animals away from it.

When everyone was settled, Harry ended the spells on the tree and passed out all the gifts. There weren't _too_ too many – certainly nothing like Dudley used to get – but that was because Harry continually strove for a balance between not enough and too many. Which could sometimes be a challenge as he often wanted to buy his kids tons of things they didn't really need. He could actually sort of understand his aunt and uncle a little better now. Not that he'd ever admit it to them.

Before anyone was allowed to open their presents, Harry insisted that Kreacher take a picture of them as a family holding one present each. After Kreacher handed the camera to Harry to inspect the picture, Harry smirked and chuckled. He handed the camera to Draco.

“What?” Draco wondered in confusion as he looked at the rather cozy picture.

“Just that we should probably all get dressed up later on and take another family picture that we can actually show to others,” Harry said.

Draco laughed and nodded. “Good point. We can do that after our Traditional Christmas Morning Walk.”

Harry kissed him, and then nudged the present in Draco's lap. “Open it.”

Draco smirked and returned Harry's kiss. “I don't know why, but I feel like Christmas took _years_ to finally arrive this time. A lifetime!”

“I know what you mean, I was beginning to think that it would _never_ get here,” Harry murmured as he watched Draco carefully unwrap the present.

It was an eight by ten picture of Harry and Draco kissing shortly after they'd gotten married. The picture had been taken by Ron when they weren't paying attention to anything but each other, and so captured them looking and acting almost disgustingly in love. Harry grinned at the slightly puzzled expression on Draco's face.

“I came across that recently when I was going through some of my old files,” Harry informed him. “I know we've had our ups and downs and more than our fair share of fights, but I just want you to know that I love you today every bit as much as I loved you then.”

“Aww mutt...” Draco purred before giving him another, lingering kiss.

“Cuddlecat...” Harry purred happily when the kiss ended, pressing their foreheads together.

“ _Yes!_ ” Albus and Scorpius hissed in triumph as they discovered that one of their presents was an advanced chemistry set they'd practically begged for.

Lily got a small solid gold butterfly clip for her hair. James got a new broom since his old one had broken in an accident. Narcissa got the specific cook book she'd wanted – which was full of fancy recipes one might serve at an upper class gala. Nymphadora got another doll – a magic one that was spelled to look, act, and feel like a real baby when it was awake. She could put it to sleep whenever she wasn't playing with it.

Which just left little Draco. He got a toy dragon that could fly around the room and shoot fire, except that it wasn't hot so that it couldn't burn him or set anything on fire, accidentally or otherwise. All these presents were just what Harry had gotten them, they'd gotten other things from Draco, but the biggest presents – so to speak – were the little red envelopes Draco had given them. They didn't look like they could hold much, but they each held the equivalent of a year's worth of allowance. This was something Draco had grown up with and felt it was a tradition worth passing on. Yes, the kids all got a (rather large, in Harry's opinion) monthly allowance, but this was like a bonus. A way for them to learn how to save their money – for the most part – but if they chose to spend it, a chance to learn how to spend it wisely.

As for Harry, Draco gave him a brand new set of formal robes and the insistence that he wear them on an official date in a few days – before Harry had to go back to work. Draco wanted to go dancing since they hadn't really had time to do so in quite a while.

“Anything you want, love,” Harry promised with a tiny smile.

“Anything?” Draco asked with interest. “What if I want you to take an extra week or two of vacation so that we can take a trip to the Maldives and shag like it's a second honeymoon?”

Their kids groaned in disgust, ruining the pretense that they were ignoring them.

Harry sighed softly, looking inexplicably sad. “I wish I could, but the best I can do at the moment is take an extra day off and send the kids to their grandparents.”

“I'll take it!” Draco accepted with a cheeky grin.

Harry smiled a bit wanly before turning to pick up Zoë the Second and rub noses with her – since she was busy trying to playfully attack and chew on his toes.

Draco frowned in concern. “What's wrong?”

“Nothing,” Harry murmured evasively, not looking at Draco. This was a major clue that Harry was lying.

Draco took the puppy from Harry and handed her to the nearest child so that he could force Harry to look him in the eye. “What's wrong?”

Harry sighed rather heavily. “So... remember how we got completely drunk at that Halloween party?”

“Yeah?” Draco asked slowly, not sure where Harry was going with this.

“And we didn't have hangover potions in the house because we'd run out so I had to go out and buy some,” Harry added. They'd actually been to a lot of parties that week and Draco hadn't had time to brew more.

“Yeah...” Draco drawled, now concerned that something serious had happened to make Harry beat around the bush like this.

“Well, apparently I bought the wrong ones.”

“Which would explain why they were so shite at getting rid of our hangovers,” Draco reasoned.

“Exactly,” Harry stated.

“ _And_...” Draco prompted.

“And they were apparently fertility potions...”

“What?! Harry! No! How in the bloody hell could you make that mistake?!”

“I was hungover!” Harry roared defensively.

“Even so, that seems like a pretty big mistake, and wait! Why are we even talking about this? We both got magically fixed so that even if one of us did take a potion, the other couldn't get that one pregnant anyway!”

Harry rubbed the back of his neck. “That's true, except I talked to Healer Rowe and she says that fertility potions have been known to override the spells that cut the little tube thingies. Like heal them magically since they are preventing fertility.”

“Merlin and Salazar! Are you saying what I think you're saying?” Draco demanded.

“That I'm pregnant...” Harry suggested, and then nodded in confirmation.

“Fuck!” Draco blurted out as he dropped his head into his hands. The kids all exchanged incredulous glances. Narcissa and Nymphadora were fairly excited by this, but the rest seemed rather ambivalent.

Harry rubbed his gorgeous husband's back. “I've actually given this a lot of thought and I think that it'll work out –”

Draco glared at him. “That's because _you_ always go back to work after the first couple of months and leave _me_ to actually raise the baby!” He then gasped as something occurred to him. “Please say there's only one!”

“There's only one, and if you'll let me finish, what I was trying to say is that I think it'll work out because I know it's not fair to you to expect you to stay home while I work, so... I'm going to hand in my resignation as Head Auror, effective about a month or so before the baby's due. That's why I'm saving up my unused vacation time, I want to use it in conjunction with my resignation so that I still get paid for a few weeks, and they'll probably give me some sort of pension and whatever I ask for, really,” Harry rambled on.

Draco was stunned. “You... You'd do that... for me?”

“I already said once today that I love you, but I'll say it again if you need me to,” Harry murmured with a wry smirk.

Draco threw his arms around Harry and kissed him. Once more, their kids groaned in disgust. This made Draco laugh. He pulled back and pointed at his oldest two.

“Keep an eye on the younger kids! I'm going to go shag your dad while I still can – before his belly gets too big!”

“ _Dad_...” They growled unhappily. “We don't need to know that!”

Draco rolled his eyes at them. “You were going to figure it out anyway, so why not be honest about it?”

“Yeah yeah,” Scorpius grumbled, shooing them away. “Just go already.

Grinning, Draco dragged his still rather fit husband away.

“And congratulations, I guess,” Albus called after them.

 

FYI: For the beginning of this chapter and a previous one, I used this pic as inspiration, plus the scene from the Lion King, lol. I did not draw this and I can't find who did to credit it, but I just *love* it and wanted to share it with y'all :-)

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I just love making Harry and Draco have a ton of babies, lol ^_^  
> I have two boys and always wanted girls, but I am so done having babies, lol. That said, if I was in a position to adopt two little girls to balance out our family, I so would :-D  
> What's your unrealistic Christmas wish?  
> Love y'all,  
> Roxanne :-)

**Author's Note:**

> To see a world in a grain of sand  
> And a heaven in a wild flower,  
> Hold infinity in the palm of your hand,  
> And eternity in an hour.  
> \- William Blake
> 
> And a lifetime in just 25 days :-)  
> \- Roxanne Packard-Bausch


End file.
